Nely and the Mermaid

At the place where the Lobé River pours into the Atlantic Ocean, where fresh water meets salt and the visible world brushes against the invisible, a love is born that defies all boundaries. Nely and the Mermaid is a lyrical and deeply human novel set on the coast of Cameroon, in the mythical landscape of Kribi. Nely, a quiet fisherman bound to the land and the sea, encounters Myriam, a mermaid whose voice rises from the depths like a forgotten prayer. Their love, impossible and luminous, unfolds between two worlds—human and myth, earth and water—challenging the laws of nature, society, and fate itself. Through poetic prose and rich symbolism, the novel explores themes of love beyond possession, fidelity beyond exclusivity, and peace born from acceptance rather than denial. Around Nely gravitate unforgettable characters: Passy, whose steadfast love grounds him in the human world; Favour and Ami, children of inheritance and memory; and a community shaped by legends, silence, and the eternal rhythm of the sea. As years pass, love transforms, loss becomes wisdom, and myth seeps into reality. The river does not end when it reaches the ocean—it becomes something greater. So too do souls and stories, carried forward by memory, song, and the murmuring waters. Both a modern African myth and a timeless meditation on love and reconciliation, Nely and the Mermaid invites readers into a world where nature listens, where water remembers, and where true love never disappears—it simply changes its shore. Where the river embraces the sea, love finds its eternal voice.