When the Tides Held the Moon is a captivating and imaginative historical fantasy with a beautiful romance at its heart, set amid the carnivals and sideshows of 1910s Coney Island. I admit that I first noticed it because of its beautiful cover – and I’m not normally someone who takes notice of covers (I read exclusively on a Kindle so everything is black and white, and sometimes I get ARCs before they even have a cover!) – but after reading the synopsis and the unusual premise, I decided this could be one time it might be prudent to judge a book by its cover and read it – and I’m glad I did!

Twenty-two-year-old Puerto Rican blacksmith Benigno – Benny – Caldera works at a foundry in New York City, having emigrated there a few years earlier following the death of his beloved Tití Luz. His is not an easy existence; plagued by bad asthma (the thick, smoky air of the ironworks is suffocating and often leads to debilitating coughing fits), he lives in a slum tenement, and his brown skin and accented English mean he will always be the butt of his workmates’ jokes and will never be fully accepted by them – or anyone else for that matter.

The story begins when the manager of the foundry is approached by a client who has a commission with very specific requirements. He wants a large iron-and-glass cage balanced on a steel undercarriage with wheels, and ironwork on three sides, leaving one unobstructed viewing pane – and he wants it finished within the month. It’s a tall order, but Benny, already intrigued by the project, is persuaded by promises of promotion and better working conditions to take the job on.

He works tirelessly over the coming weeks, letting his imagination have full rein and crafting something beautiful and elaborate with moulded wave panels and shells and scrolls. It’s only on the day the cage is to be collected that Benny learns what it’s going to be used for when he sees the coach emblazoned with the words Morgan’s Menagerie of Human Oddities on the side.

The tank is headed to a sideshow.

Later that day, Benny finds himself meeting Sam Morgan and his performers at the port, where Morgan reveals that they’re going to procure the tank’s inhabitant – and that after tonight, the Menagerie will have its very own mermaid. Benny is sceptical to say the least, and thinks they’ll be returning home with an empty tank, but he goes along with it, waiting with the others as one of their number is set adrift in a small boat – and watching incredulously as the boat is slowly brought back to shore by a shadowy figure. Things happen quickly after that – the net is thrown and the creature is caught, a creature Benny is startled to see looks almost like a human man, the shock on his face surely mirroring that on his own.

Still stunned by the night’s events, Benny helps Morgan and his people get the tank back to Luna Park, and then heads home. But his conscience keeps pricking at him, and after a dream filled with visions of the water and of home and of Tití Luz, he knows what he must do – go back to Luna Park and find a way to help the merman regain his freedom.

He arrives at the Menagerie to see Morgan banging a pistol on the glass and yelling at the enraged merman, who is flinging himself furiously against the glass and sending water splashing over the top of the tank. When el tritón finally subsides to the floor, Benny is able to get a look at him, his long, copper-coloured hair, his blue/green skin and his long, deep blue tail. It’s a pose of dejection – yet when his eyes meet Benny’s there’s no disguising the cold hatred in them. And Benny supposes he can’t really blame him.

From here, the focus of the story becomes the slow-burn, tender romance that develops between Benny and el tritón – who allows Benny to call him Río. It takes considerable time and patience for Benny to gain Río’s trust, and their relationship is extremely well written as they grow closer and begin to learn about each other. The book is written almost entirely from Benigno’s PoV with a few short chapters from Río’s perspective, so he remains – rightly, I think – something of an enigma. Thus, the story is more concerned with Benny’s character growth and how he finds a new sense of self through his association with – and love for – Río, who is clever, insightful and so attuned to Benny’s emotions that he’s able to help him to see the truth of his own worth and to understand that he shouldn’t doubt himself. And even though Río is very well aware of Benny’s part in his capture, he understands why he did it and forgives him, coming to love Benny for his affectionate, hopeful nature and to trust in his promise to free him.

Running alongside the romance is the story of Benny finding a place to belong among the other performers, who have created a found family based on who they are as people rather than being predicated on looks, race, sexuality or any other external qualities. Benny, who came to New York in the hope of finding the person he used to be, has instead felt increasingly more isolated and alone, even more of a stranger to himself in a place that has “no better idea of what to do with me than it does of what to do with my island” – finds genuine friendship and caring among this motley company, and a feeling of safety in being with Río that he’s rarely experienced.

The writing is lyrical and almost poetic in places (the language around the romance is occasionally a bit flowery for my taste) and although there are a few instances where the pacing feels a bit ‘laggy’, I was invested in enough in the story, the romance and in the depictions of the lives of the performers and the hardships they face for that not to be too much of an issue. There are a number of untranslated Spanish words and phrases in the text, which I liked; having immediate translations breaks the flow, and although my Spanish is rusty it wasn’t so much so that I couldn’t work out what was being conveyed, plus there is a glossary at the end. Unusually, there are a number of illustations of key moments throughout (the author is known for their work as an illustrator) – I’m not sure they’re completely necessary, but they’re beautiful nonetheless.

The final chapters are tense and exciting as Benny and his friends work out a plan to free Río – and it’s bittersweet, knowing that in freeing Río, he will lose his family, his job and the (mer)man he loves. But he has to keep that promise – Río has the right to be free, even if that freedom is something Benny will never have for himself.

The ending is somewhat ambiguous, the author leaving it up to the reader’s imagination to decide what has actually happened, but rest-assured there is an HEA

When the Tides Held the Moon is one of the more unusual romances I’ve read recently, a love story about two men, caged and trapped by society and circumstance, finding the courage and determination to break free of the restraints that bind them; an exploration of outsiders exploring their roots and identity and what community looks like to them; and a story about finding home. I enjoyed it very much and am happy to recommend it.