It's hard to see what H.G. Wells was going for in The Sea Lady, a so-called "fantasy novel" that features a mermaid determined to enter the respectable ranks of English society.

There is, of course, some real potential for comedy in this scenario, most of which is to be found in the book's opening pages. To be a "lady" the mermaid has to fulfill certain conventions that fit rather uncomfortably with her sea-bound status.

How does she go to church, for instance? The mermaid answers, rather dubiously, that she knows it is Sunday by hearing the hymns sung in English churches, and this triggers her own prayers. She tries tea for the first time, which she has no way of brewing. There are discussions about the difficulties of brewing tea, maintaining a hairstyle, wearing clothes, and reading books under the sea.

It seems to me that the sea lady, who is dubbed "Miss Waters," really wins the hearts of her new family by her enormous wealth, for it turns out that she has a box full of treasures. The family manage to conceal her status from the servants by hiding her tail, but there is a continual sense of social and, particularly, sexual anxiety about this part of her anatomy.

I liked all of these elements of the story, but the problem is that Wells simply doesn't do anything with this wealth of potential satire. Instead, the story meanders along, focusing instead of the chattering classes whose ranks Miss Waters has now joined.

What this strange marine stalker sees in these people, I have no idea. The water seems a much more interesting and meaningful place than among this lot of bourgeois bores. ( )