Venessa Vida Kelley’s When the Tides Held the Moon is a novel that shimmers on multiple planes—myth and memory, saltwater and steel, queerness and colonial resistance. It reads like a spell and feels like a tide: at once relentless and tender. Melding magical realism with historical fiction, this lyrical debut transports readers to 1911 New York, where a Puerto Rican blacksmith and a merman meet not in fantasy but in a tank—one forged by human hands and filled with far more than water.
With its richly imagined setting, unforgettable characters, and urgent, poetic prose, the book is more than a story—it is a living, breathing force that explores the price of survival and the courage of choosing love when the world offers only captivity.
Storyline Overview: From Foundry to Fairytale
Benigno “Benny” Caldera, a young blacksmith from Puerto Rico, has landed in Brooklyn after the devastating hurricane of 1899 and the suffocating weight of American colonization. He works grueling shifts in a soot-choked ironworks, ridiculed by his Irish coworkers and undermined by his foreman. When offered an unusual commission—a glass-and-iron tank for an exhibit at Coney Island—he sees it as his one chance to escape the shadows of the foundry and step into the light of artistry.
But the tank is no ordinary display case. It is destined to house a captured merman named Río—a sentient, gentle being ripped from the polluted East River and presented as a sideshow attraction. What begins as a moment of shock soon evolves into something deeper. Benny finds in Río not just a kindred spirit, but a mirror of his own captivity and yearning. Their friendship blossoms into love, one as fierce as the tides and as forbidden as the moon’s pull on man.
The tension builds: can Benny free Río without losing the only stability he has found in this alien city? Can love between two “others” survive a world built on spectacle, ownership, and prejudice?
Thematic Analysis: Myth-Making as Resistance
Identity, Displacement, and the Price of Assimilation
Benny’s story is one of exile—not only from his homeland, but from language, culture, and even his own name. Kelley explores the immigrant experience with poignant specificity: the ache of asthma in polluted air, the bitterness of a slur disguised as a nickname, the way even artistic triumphs are credited to white superiors. He is a man adrift, forging meaning out of molten metal in a land that wants to smother his spark.
Río, meanwhile, is a character born of myth but shaped by human cruelty. He is literally caged, but more devastating is how he is made a spectacle, his wisdom and gentleness disregarded in favor of his novelty. His chapters—told in melodic, dreamlike prose—offer a counterpoint to Benny’s gritty realism. Río represents all that is forgotten and discarded by the industrial age: nature, magic, song, empathy.
Together, Benny and Río are two voices silenced by systems—finding in each other not just love, but the possibility of reclaiming their own narratives.
Queer Love in an Unforgiving World
The romance at the heart of When the Tides Held the Moon is as delicate as it is defiant. Kelley allows the relationship between Benny and Río to unfold slowly, built on trust, glances, and shared griefs. There’s no melodrama or grand gesture; instead, the love feels inevitable—like a tide that cannot be held back. Their queerness is not the source of the story’s conflict; the world’s refusal to honor their humanity is.
What makes this queer love story so profound is its refusal to ask for pity. Neither character apologizes for their desire, and Kelley does not write them as tragic figures—but as revolutionaries. Their love is not doomed. It is luminous.
Colonialism, Class, and Captivity
Through Benny’s backstory—his flight from a colonized Puerto Rico devastated by war and hurricane—Kelley interrogates the legacy of American imperialism with remarkable subtlety. His position as an outsider in a New York ironworks reflects the layered oppression faced by colonized people in the so-called land of freedom.
The tank itself becomes a central metaphor—at once a symbol of artistic mastery and a prison. Benny built it to escape obscurity, only to realize it’s a cage. Kelley turns the image on its head: can something built to imprison become a vessel of liberation?
Literary Style: As Lush as the Moonlit Sea
Kelley’s writing style is hypnotic, almost tidal in its rhythm. She seamlessly alternates between Benny’s grounded, working-class perspective and Río’s ethereal, water-bound consciousness. The contrast is masterfully executed:
- Benny’s chapters are rich with Puerto Rican Spanish, unitalicized and embedded naturally, immersing readers in his inner world.
- Río’s chapters are lyrical and mythic, filled with ocean metaphors, forgotten gods, and whispered songs of memory. These sections read like sacred texts.
Kelley’s background in visual art enhances her storytelling. “When the Tides Held the Moon” includes her own illustrations and typographical experiments that make the text feel handcrafted. And while occasionally the prose becomes dense—particularly in Río’s more philosophical monologues—the emotional clarity always returns like the ebb of a wave.
Characters: Not Just Oddities, But Beacons
- Benny Caldera is one of the most memorable queer protagonists in recent historical fiction. Flawed but deeply empathetic, he is caught between invisibility and defiance. His journey from exploited laborer to liberator is as compelling as any hero’s arc.
- Río, the merman, is both tender and tragic—a creature of beauty, sorrow, and sacred rage. He speaks not in clichés but in songs, and every moment he’s on the page deepens the novel’s emotional tide.
- Samuel Morgan, Sonia Kutzler, and the Sideshow Cast: Each member of the traveling menagerie is unique and lovingly detailed. Kelley subverts the “freak show” trope by imbuing her side characters with agency and dignity, especially Madam Navya and Matthias, the so-called “Strongest Man in the World,” who is a writer and philosopher at heart.
What Sets This Novel Apart
- Dual Narratives with Distinctive Voices: Kelley achieves the rare feat of balancing two narrative voices that feel wholly unique yet deeply interconnected.
- Historically Rooted Fantasy: Set against the grime of industrial New York and the wonder of Luna Park, the novel uses history not just as a backdrop but as a living force. Kelley captures the textures of immigrant labor, urban prejudice, and the mechanical spectacle of early 20th-century entertainment with documentary-level detail.
- Mythology with Teeth: The fantastical elements feel earned. The mythology of Río’s world is not window-dressing; it’s integral to the novel’s emotional and political stakes.
- A Queer Romance That Refuses Tragedy: The love story here doesn’t end in convenient heartbreak. It dares to imagine freedom—not just for the characters, but for the reader.
Points of Critique: Minor Riptides in a Vast Ocean
While “When the Tides Held the Moon” is overwhelmingly successful, a few elements slightly dilute its impact:
- Pacing Lag in the Middle Third: As the plot transitions from the ironworks to the menagerie, some scenes lean more on mood than movement. Readers eager for action may find themselves wading through lyrical waters.
- Side Characters’ Arcs: A few characters—particularly the twin Rhodes brothers—are introduced with strong flair but lack deeper resolution or evolution by the end.
Still, these are gentle tides in an otherwise robust current.
Similar Titles You Might Enjoy
- The Deep by Rivers Solomon — for readers drawn to mythic underwater legacies and Black queer voices.
- The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker — another historical-fantasy novel set in immigrant New York, with otherworldly beings and rich cultural fusion.
- A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske — for those who love queer romance mixed with historical fantasy and magic.
Why This Book Matters
When the Tides Held the Moon is more than a beautifully written queer historical fantasy—it is a radical declaration that magic exists where it is least expected: in factories, in fish tanks, in the breath between two broken men. Kelley’s novel is an anthem for all those who have been caged by society’s gaze and dared to love anyway.
It dares to reclaim the fairytale—not as a sanitized, heterosexual fantasy but as a vessel of cultural memory, resistance, and queer liberation.
Best For:
- Readers of historical fiction with fantastical flair
- Queer romance fans who want emotional truth over tropes
- Literary fantasy enthusiasts
- Anyone seeking a love story that feels sacred, defiant, and unforgettable