The Mercies
Author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Published by: Picador
Pages: 350
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
Published by: Picador
Pages: 350
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
On Christmas Eve, 1617, the sea around the remote Norwegian island of Vardo is thrown into a reckless storm. As Maren Magnusdatter watches, forty fishermen, including her father and brother, are lost to the waves – the menfolk wiped out in an instant.
Vardo is now a place of women.
Eighteen months later, a sinister figure arrives. Summoned for Scotland to take control of a place at the edge of the civilized world, Absalom Cornet knows what he needs to do to bring the women of Vardo to heel. With him travels his young wife, Ursa. In Vardo, and in Maren, Ursa finds something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place flooded with a terrible evil, one he must root out at all costs.
My thoughts
Reading this novel felt like a total feast to me. The setting and all details included in this book are striking. Scenery, clothes, food or architectural descriptions are wonderfully researched and woven into the plot.
Atmospheric and beautifully written, The Mercies takes inspiration from the real-life disaster of 1617 where forty men drowned on Christmas Eve off the coast of Vardo in Norway. It was a vicious and unnatural storm. For the women left behind, they must fight not only for survival in the harsh climate, but also the resulting accusations of witchcraft and sorcery which creates a growing level of mistrust between the women.
This book held me entirely captivated from start to finish. I loved the writing in this. It’s richly descriptive and well researched, immersing the reader in the environment from the very first page with a vivid reimagining of this terrible disaster.
The characters are also well fleshed out and complex, as we see Maren struggle to deal with her growing resentment for some of the women she’s grown up with. This includes the slow unravelling of her relationship with her mother and brother’s wife, an outsider.
The Mercies really is a tale about women, how they create kinship in times of need and come together as a strong community. It is a story about how suspicion can twist its way through a community, and about a love that could prove as dangerous as it is powerful.
It’s a beautifully written bleak story. In addition to its beautiful writing, its subject matter is both enduring and timely. Ifelt the ending didn’t quite give me the satisfaction I would have wanted, although I‘m honestly not sure how else the story could have concluded.
This is a fantastic novel inspired by a real-life witch hunt. Hargrave’s prose is truly gripping and immersive. Through her writing, the muddy, cold life and politics of a fishing village spring to life on every page. But arguably her most important insights are about the human heart - how quickly prejudices can turn into murder, and how desperately we need love and courage to combat it. The plot will send chills down your spine.
Beautiful and chilling, this novel is perfect for readers of Circe and The Handmaid’s Tale. I highly recommend The Mercies and hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
Overall reaction:
Reading this novel felt like a total feast to me. The setting and all details included in this book are striking. Scenery, clothes, food or architectural descriptions are wonderfully researched and woven into the plot.
Atmospheric and beautifully written, The Mercies takes inspiration from the real-life disaster of 1617 where forty men drowned on Christmas Eve off the coast of Vardo in Norway. It was a vicious and unnatural storm. For the women left behind, they must fight not only for survival in the harsh climate, but also the resulting accusations of witchcraft and sorcery which creates a growing level of mistrust between the women.
This book held me entirely captivated from start to finish. I loved the writing in this. It’s richly descriptive and well researched, immersing the reader in the environment from the very first page with a vivid reimagining of this terrible disaster.
The characters are also well fleshed out and complex, as we see Maren struggle to deal with her growing resentment for some of the women she’s grown up with. This includes the slow unravelling of her relationship with her mother and brother’s wife, an outsider.
The Mercies really is a tale about women, how they create kinship in times of need and come together as a strong community. It is a story about how suspicion can twist its way through a community, and about a love that could prove as dangerous as it is powerful.
It’s a beautifully written bleak story. In addition to its beautiful writing, its subject matter is both enduring and timely. Ifelt the ending didn’t quite give me the satisfaction I would have wanted, although I‘m honestly not sure how else the story could have concluded.
This is a fantastic novel inspired by a real-life witch hunt. Hargrave’s prose is truly gripping and immersive. Through her writing, the muddy, cold life and politics of a fishing village spring to life on every page. But arguably her most important insights are about the human heart - how quickly prejudices can turn into murder, and how desperately we need love and courage to combat it. The plot will send chills down your spine.
Beautiful and chilling, this novel is perfect for readers of Circe and The Handmaid’s Tale. I highly recommend The Mercies and hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
Overall reaction: