The Mercies: The Bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club Pick
£5.70
The bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club pick
The Sunday Times Bestseller and BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick
‘Dark, dramatic and full of danger’ – Daily Mail
For readers of Circe and The Handmaid’s Tale, Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s The Mercies is inspired by real historical events.
The storm comes in like a finger snap . . .
1617. The sea around the remote Norwegian island of Vardø is thrown into a vicious storm. A young woman, Maren, watches as the men of the island, out fishing, perish in an instant.
Vardø is now a place of women . . .
Eighteen months later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet has been summoned to bring the women of the island to heel. With him travels his young wife, Ursa. In her new home, and in Maren, Ursa encounters something she has never seen before: independent women. But where Ursa finds happiness, even love, Absalom sees only a place flooded with a terrible evil, one he must root out at all costs . . .
A story about how suspicion can twist its way through a community, about a love that could prove as dangerous as it is powerful.
‘Gripping’ – Madeline Miller, author of Circe
‘Took my breath away’ – Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring
‘A beautifully intimate story of friendship, love and hope’ – Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain
‘Something rare and beautiful’ – Marian Keyes, author of Again, Rachel
‘Chilling and page-turning’ – The Times
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Additional information
| Publisher | Picador (6 Feb. 2020) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 3051 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 353 pages |
by Tom
The Mercies is a very slow burn of a book. It starts off with the storm that sets the scene and from there it is one giant build up to the final quarter of the book that you won’t be able to put down.
We see characters develop over the years and the attention to detail from the author allows us to understand the hardships that the women of Vardø endure and how these hardships cause people to change their ways and how the witch trials causes this to escalate tremendously.
The book has strong feminist values in a culture that doesn’t accept even women wearing trousers, we have a forbidden love, and a constant struggle for survival. It is definitely worth a read, if not for the incredibly interesting story, then for the unique bit of history intertwined with an amazing storyteller to deliver it.
by SusannahB
‘The Mercies’, Karen Millwood Hargrave’s first book for adults, is based on the true story of a dramatic storm which occurred at sea on the remote Norwegian island of Vardo on Christmas Eve in the year 1617. The menfolk, who are out fishing at the time, are all tragically drowned, their bodies gradually being washed up on the beach in the days following the storm. The women of Vardo, most of whom are mourning husbands, sons or brothers, have to try to cope without their menfolk and, as it is deemed aberrant for females to go out to sea to fish, many go hungry. Eventually, headed by the forceful and resourceful Kirsten, the younger, more independently-minded women take their fates in their own hands and bravely face the vagaries of the sea. However, some of the more traditional and narrow-minded older women object to Kirstin and those close to her; they also turn on Kirstin’s friend, Maren, a young woman whose fiancé was lost at sea and particularly Maren’s sister-in-law, Diinna, a Sami woman who is looked down upon by many of the inhabitants on the island. Then, into their midst, arrives Commissioner Absalom Cornet with his recently acquired and beautiful young wife, Ursa, a very so-called religious man who regards independence in women an indication of witchcraft. Soon, Commissioner Cornet, aided by some of the staunchly-religious women on Vardo (including Maren’s mother) puts his witch-hunting skills into practice and Kirsten and Maren soon find themselves in danger – especially when Maren and Ursa (who finds her husband increasingly detestable) become emotionally and physically attracted to one another.
A book that lives up to expectations and one that deserves the accolades on the cover, this is a novel that I very much enjoyed. I’m not the first person to comment on how well the author (as Jessie Burton did with Holland in ‘The Miniaturist’) evokes seventeenth century Norway and how she describes not just the beauty of the landscape, but also the less picturesque aspects of everyday life and the difficulties facing women at that time. Ms Millwood Hargrave’s characters are also well-portrayed – particularly the women and I would have loved to have learnt more about Diinna and the Sami race. So, a book that actually delivered what was promised on the cover (something that often doesn’t happen) and one that has made me keen to see what the author will produce for her next adult novel – I may also look at her YA fiction for a young relative of mine.
5 Stars
by Amazon Customer
The author describes the Nordic world well – but for me, the narration in the present tense is contrived, and there is way too much ‘tittle-tattle’ conversation, and not enough action or intrigue or mystery or romance – apart from a quick lesbian fling towards the end….and that’s not for me….
by Philippa Ward
An excellent book, chosen by our book club. Well written. Difficult to read certain parts due to subject matter but we all thought it was a great read.
by Toni Arme
Started strong and interesting, and ended up quite predictable. There was such potential to write about the lives of these women but the author was set on it being about the witch hunts which (to be fair) did inspire the story. The ending felt rushed and very unsatisfying.
by Bec
I thought this was going to be an interesting story about the historical events of the Vardo witch trials, and anticipated a heartening yet bittersweet story of the hardships women were forced to endure during that time. A time of female strength and solidarity against a harsh and unforgiving landscape – both in terms of the actual environment they had to navigate in their daily lives but also in the religious zealotry and patriarchal structure that restricted their very right to fight for survival.
What I left with was the disappointment of a LGBTQ+ storyline that just didn’t feel like it fit. Even in our recent history, I know the damage our oppressive and homophobic society has done to our LGBTQ+ members, with the internalised homophobia ad self-hate, the fear and shame people have been forced to live in. Set back 400 years in the past, the author has made these issues seem so easy for the protagonists to accept and move past, I just didn’t believe it. And when this story was specifically written in homage to the very real ladies who lost their lives during these witch hunts, it’s hard to imagine any of those same women the author says she hopes would feel she’s done them justice actually being pleased about their story being framed as a lesbian love story.
In all, I felt that so much more could have been done with this story. It was a superficial look at some very weighty themes, which I wished the author had dug down into more.
by Mig Bardsley
There’s the historical aspect which is harrowing – whenever I come across the whole witch hunting thing I am thankful that I live now and not then. Then there is the grim courage of the women taking up life after their men are lost in a storm. The individual courage of the women who resisted the attempts of church and state to control them, some openly and some covertly. And then there is the clash between common sense and the local politics in a remote and barren land. I thought this book was clever and thoughtful and if I didn’t enjoy reading about the atrocities committed in the name of God, you still have to know about it and remember that it rarely makes any sense.
And the sense of the land is powerful.
It’s not a feelgood read but it is worth reading.