Thirteen-year-old Mere Holmes has spent almost all her life on board the Persephone, sailing through the waters of the Great Lakes between Ontario and New York State with her mother, Faye, and Mark, 16, who helps crew the boat. Faye believes that the U.S. authorities are still after her for her part in anti-Vietnam War protests and for smuggling draft dodgers into Canada; Mark is running from the ghost of the younger brother he killed in a tragic gun accident. Making one of their annual stops in Toronto, the trio are met by Merril, one of Faye’s former partners in crime and possibly Mere’s father, who is seeking refuge aboard the Persephone, convinced the F.B.I. is on to him. By refusing him, Faye sets in motion her own destruction.

Mother-and-daughter team Esta and Linda Spalding have worked together as two of the editors of the recent Lost Classics anthology and on Brick magazine. In their first foray into fiction, they’ve crafted a remarkably fluid psychological novel that compels readers onto a painful but deeply satisfying journey. For a novel written by two such different writers, the fabric of the double narrative, one strand following Faye, the other Mere, flows relatively seamlessly, despite a rough start.

Mere is filled with echoes of the Persephone/Demeter story from Greek mythology and has a deeply poetic quality reminiscent of Linda Spalding’s lush prose in Daughters of Captain Cook. This is a carefully constructed novel, and like the delicate layers of a mille feuille pastry, the authors have layered story upon story upon story, gradually unveiling the pain that lies behind the life of each character. But as fine as the prose is, what is remarkable about Mere is the sheer momentum that pushes the pace of the book forward to its emotionally wrenching conclusion.