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Sign up todayThe Mercies
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“A chilling and captivating book taking place in a Norwegian village in the 1670s, The Mercies is a story of resilience. It follows Maren, who watched as all the village men died in a storm and has had to find a way to survive those losses, and Ursa, the daughter of a merchant who was married off to a witch hunter before being brought north. When their paths cross, both women’s lives are changed forever. This beautifully written story left me chilled. It is not often that I have to put down a book, but there were several times I had to walk away from this one to just sit and think about it. A must-read!”
— Katherine Nazzaro • Trident Booksellers & Cafe
After the men in an Arctic Norwegian town are wiped out, the women must survive a sinister threat in this "perfectly told" 1600s parable of "a world gone mad" (Adriana Trigiani).
Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardø must fend for themselves.
Three years later, a stranger arrives on their shore. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband's authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren, Ursa sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God, and flooded with a mighty evil. As Maren and Ursa are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, the island begins to close in on them, with Absalom's iron rule threatening Vardø's very existence.
Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1621 witch trials, The Mercies is a story of love, evil, and obsession, set at the edge of civilization.One of the Best Books of the Year USA TodayGood Housekeeping
Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a British author, poet, and playwright. Her debut book, The Girl of Ink & Stars, won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, and British Children's Book of the Year. Her second book, The Island at the End of Everything, received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and VOYA. She holds degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and lives by the river in Oxford. The Mercies is her debut novel for adults.
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Audiobook details
Author:
Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Narrator:
Jessie Buckley
ISBN:
9781549150425
Length:
11 hours 6 minutes
Language:
English
Publisher:
Hachette Audio
Publication date:
February 11, 2020
Edition:
Unabridged
Libro.fm rank:
#6,291 Overall
Genre rank:
#266 in LGBTQIA+ Fiction
Reviews
"Historical fiction fans looking for a Handmaid's Tale-style twist will love this novel... A story of danger, love and power -- with Big Offred Energy."—Cosmopolitan (UK) "The Mercies is both harrowing and beautiful. Through mesmerizing prose, Kiran Millwood Hargrave depicts the brutality of life for women on an isolated island in 1620 Norway during the witch trials. Yet amidst this horror and within the punishing landscape, she creates a set of brilliant characters and a moving love story full of tenderness and hope. This is a book to be savored and read time and again."—Jenny Quintana, author of The Missing Girl "This is a powerful story that gathers ever more momentum as it moves towards its conclusion."—The Sunday Times (UK) "Passionate, stirring and conveying a terrifying atmosphere of claustrophobic oppression, Hargrave's gripping tale of courageous women facing overwhelming odds is helped along no end by the vividness of her bleak island location and her depiction of the dynamics of a God-fearing fishing village as opposing factions struggle for control."—The Herald (UK) "The Mercies is storytelling at its most masterful. This is an exquisite tale of sisterhood, of love, of courage and of what happens when communities turn on each other. It is everything I could have desired in a book: beguiling plotting, stunning prose, and a profound understanding of human nature. I have nothing short of awe for Kiran Millwood Hargrave and all she has accomplished here. I raged, I laughed, I cried. I urge you to read this novel."—Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory "Hargrave's expressive prose easily conveys the unforgiving landscape of mud, ice, wind, and salt . . . A moving tale of women given no choice but independence who are then persecuted for the 'choice' they have made."
—Booklist "Hargrave paces her story well and unfolds the plot perfectly, keeping the action moving. She writes in readable, beautiful prose with striking metaphors."—Winnipeg Free Press "I loved The Mercies. It opened up a completely new chapter of history to me, and I loved the way it told its story in such beautiful language. I won't forget this story of these women in a Norway I knew little about. A searing historical novel."—Naomi Wood, author of The Hiding Game and Mrs. Hemingway "The Mercies is an exceptional work of historical fiction with a dramatic setting and perceptive insight into the rippling effects of extremism, as seen through the eyes of a carefully crafted cast of characters."—Bookpage "Every once in a while, a modern day parable, perfectly told, reflects all that could happen in a world gone mad. Kiran Millwood Hargrave has written a novel for our times with artistry and skill."—Adriana Trigiani New York Times bestselling author of Tony's Wife and Kiss Carlo "Kiran Millwood Hargrave's wonderful The Mercies is a mesmerizing, heart-wrenching novel which had me desperate for the women of Vardo to win through. A perfect book club choice."—AJ Pearce, author of Dear Mrs. Bird "This chilling tale of religious persecution is served up with a feminist bite . . . . In clean, gripping sentences the author is wonderfully tuned to the ways and gestures of a seemingly taciturn people."