Everything you need to understand or teach The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar.
Set in the late 1700s in England, Imogen Hermes Gowar's novel The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock tells the story of a humble merchant, Jonah Hancock, and a famous courtesan, Angelica Neal, whose fortunes change because of a hideous dead mermaid, which brings them together and leads them to fall in love. The novel deals with prostitution and racism in Georgian England, depicting its sex workers as engaged in social resistance, as well as the confines of class in English society. Mr. Hancock makes his fortune from exhibiting the mermaid and then sells it to a wealthy collector, proving the value of novelty. When Mr. Hancock receives a second mermaid, different from the first but just as unexpected in appearance, Angelica convinces him to release the creature, which is aligned with the captive prostitutes and represents the characters' sorrow.
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