By far the biggest section of content to carefully consider for your reader actually doesn’t even begin to appear until much later in the book. Upon meeting a new shady group of characters the heaviness and subject matter of some of the content takes a pretty significant jump up.
A new man kisses Clara’s hand and she thinks, “a dime-novel knave attempting to seduce an innocent maiden”
A wicked man goes off “to seduce some silly farm girl or faithless wife”
Clara is dressed in an oriental outfit pretending to be a statue. A terrible man comes up and whispers, “Pretty little things, ain’t you? I heard what your kind is good for, and I’ll pay more than the five cents for it sweetheart”. He then moves his hand on her shoulder before starting to move it “lower”
We hare instruction “not to provoke Jasper’s lust”
This same Jasper comments, “One of these nights, one of these long and lonely nights, I am going to make a dishonest woman of her. And after one night with me, she will never want anyone else but me”.
Clara indicates she is going to bed and Jasper asks, “Is that an invitation?”
When forced into an indecent outfit we read, “All those poor farm lads will have indecent thoughts for weeks because of you”.
Maren in her mermaid form appears unclothed for the first time and Clara is horrified for her sister. Two men see her and one makes fun of Clara’s insistence on modesty, commenting that she has not seen much of the world (as if being immodest is something natural we grow into). The scene mentions “breasts”. Later again we hear how “her hair cascades over her round breasts”.
A truly evil villain is introduced abruptly. This man may truly frighten some readers. He threatens to beat his wife. He has killed multiple people before. We are told he gives the siblings poisoned tea and that if they don’t drink of it daily it will kill them.
This evil man says to his wife, “You have poisoned me, you faithless whore”
The evil man’s wife tells her not to sleep alone, “To safeguard your virtue. The men of this town must not have an easy path to you. Sleeping alone offers you no protection at all”.
Clara has a dream where “He draws his weapon back and thursts it towards my heart”
A tale includes the sad passing of a newborn
A woman’s neck is crushed and a man is shot.
Other items to be aware of:
Maren comments, “Oh how romantic” to which Clara replies, “Wait until she loses her looks and her cheer after bearing him a dozen rowdy sons. How romantic that will be, sister”
A man is described as skilled in “music, hunting and the wooing of ladies dark and fair”
Loveable Scarff smokes a pipe and later has elderberry wine.
O’Neill tells the girls he will take them somewhere when they are 20, adding at that point “no on can tell us what to do”. He mentions they will “drink strange wines” when they do.
A priest gives thanks to God, but then adds, “thanks to Our Lady and all the saints”.
A teen is said to have had a beer with supper.
Clara complains that a show will have “bawdy songs by nearly undressed ladies”.
When feeling very guilty Clara thinks a few different variations of “I hate myself”.
Sadly, O’Neill is said to sing “a naughty sea chanty that makes even our mermaid blush”
A story includes the line about a man who died, “Lucky he was. I am certain of that, for after he died, bad luck took hold of us without delay”
An evil half fairy woman is referred to as a witch.
A bad man gets drunk on whiskey
O’Neill is frustrated and says “a few words I don’t recognize… I guess that they are expletives of a foreign tongue”
Clara was instructed by her aunt “not to tempt men by revealing too many secrets”
A woman says that “one day the gods would choose his next path”, describing her view of flippant, uncaring gods
Frustrated Clara remarks, “If I were a fighter, I would beat her bloody. If I were a stork, I would stab her with my bill.”
The evil man comments, “By the flames of hell, I disown it and you… The devil take you both! You were more his son than mine.”
When Clara talks of being a hero, O’Neill jokes, “I rather like being the damsel in distress. I was about to ask to borrow a dress”.
The following terms/phrases are used: “like unhappy ghosts” (describing wind), devilish grin (said in a positive light), “haunted place”, “you son of an a–” (not shown)