Thessalonike of Macedon

The popular Greek legend about Thessalonike is that she turned into a mermaid who lived in the Aegean for hundreds of years. According to the legend, Alexander, in his quest for the Fountain of Immortality, retrieved a flask of immortal water, which he used to bathe his sister’s hair. When he died, she was so overcome with grief that she tried to kill herself by jumping into the sea. But instead of drowning, she became a mermaid who would pass judgment on mariners across the seven seas.

Miriam refers to Thessalonike in THE DEADLIEST LIE, when she remembers going to the beach with her twin brother:

I’d ride the waves like an alighting gull while pretending to be Thessalonike, the legendary mermaid who calms the seas for sailors. But Binyamin would tunnel under the waves and cut through the foam like a razor… [until] his ginger curls were stiff with salt and his face was bronzed by the sun.

Like Miriam, you too will remember your childhood excursions when you read about hers in THE DEADLIEST LIE. I guess by now you know why I write so often about twins. Anyway, just click here.