When a beautiful mermaid stages her 'rescue' at a British seaside resort, the Bunting family scrambles to hide her tail and present her as a human invalid. H.G. Wells’s The Sea Lady is a witty satire of Edwardian propriety, contrasting the rigid constraints of human society with the boundless, 'better dreams' of the ocean. As she disrupts political ambitions and social norms, the Sea Lady forces a choice between the safety of convention and the allure of the unknown.