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Start giftingMercy House
A Novel
Length
9 hours 35 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“Mercy House deals with some tough subjects--abortion, immoral priests, and sex trafficking. Yet this author is able to show the power of women when they stick together, the unending and complicated love of family, and a community that, despite their flaws, stands by each other. This book is sure to be controversial but somehow I feel like a better person having read it.”
— Linda • Fiction Addiction
Bookseller recommendation
“Mercy House is a beautifully written and narrated story of a group of nuns who open a home for abused girls and women, only to have it threatened by a bishop that holds a vendetta. Alena Dillon has somehow reached straight into my soul and my anger toward the failings of the Catholic Church and all of the treacherous people it has and continues to protect within its ranks. This is a fantastic book.”
— Mary • Anderson's Bookshop
“A life-altering debut featuring fierce, funny, and irreverent women who battle the most powerful institution in the world. This is the book we’ve all been waiting for.”—Amy Schumer
She would stop at nothing to protect the women under her care.
Inside a century-old row house in Brooklyn, renegade Sister Evelyn and her fellow nuns preside over a safe haven for the abused and abandoned. Gruff and indomitable on the surface, warm and wry underneath, little daunts Evelyn, until she receives word that Mercy House will be investigated by Bishop Hawkins, a man with whom she shares a dark history. In order to protect everything they’ve built, the nuns must conceal many of their methods, which are forbidden by the Catholic Church.
Evelyn will go to great lengths to defend all that she loves. She confronts a gang member, defies the church, challenges her own beliefs, and faces her past. She is bolstered by the other nuns and the vibrant, diverse residents of the shelter—Lucia, Mei-Li, Desiree, Esther, and Katrina—whose differences are outweighed by what unites them: they’ve all been broken by men but are determined to rebuild.
Amidst her fight, Evelyn discovers the extraordinary power of mercy and the grace it grants, not just to those who receive it, but to those strong enough to bestow it.
Alena Dillon is the author of Mercy House, which is in development as a CBS All Access television series. Her work has appeared in publications including LitHub, River Teeth, Slice Magazine, The Rumpus, and Bustle. She teaches creative writing and lives on the north shore of Boston with her husband, son, and dog.
