Inspired by real historical events, The Mercies is a breathtaking story of love, fear and obsession, and the strength and courage of women.
Kiran Millwood Hargrave (b. 1990) is an award-winning poet, playwright, and novelist. Her bestselling works for children include The Girl of Ink & Stars, and have won numerous awards including the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year, and the Blackwell's Children's Book of the Year, and been shortlisted for prizes such as the Costa Children's Book Award and the Blue Peter Best Story Award. The Merciesis her first novel for adults. Kiran lives by the river in Oxford, with her husband, artist Tom de Freston, and their rescue cat, Luna.
A gripping novel inspired by a real-life witch hunt. Hargrave's
prose is visceral and immersive; the muddy, cold life and politics
of a fishing village leap to vivid life. But her most vital
insights are about the human heart: how terrifyingly quickly
prejudices can turn into murder, and how desperately we need love
and courage to oppose it. Beautiful and chilling.
*Madeline Miller, author of Circe*
The Mercies took my breath away. A beautifully rendered portrait of
a community, a landscape, a relationship, I read it with equal
parts hope and dread. Kiran Millwood Hargrave has masterfully built
up an incredible claustrophobic atmosphere, shot through with
delicate intimacy. On finishing it I pressed the book to me, hoping
to absorb some of her skill.
*Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring*
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*
On an icy, dark island, men hunt witches and women fight back.
Kiran Millwood Hargrave plucks a piece of 400-year-old legal
history - a European king's prosecution of 91 people for witchcraft
- and gives it a feminist spin. In clean, gripping sentences, the
author is wonderfully tuned to the ways and gestures of a seemingly
taciturn people. This chilling tale of religious persecution is
served up with a feminist bite
*Kirkus (starred review)*
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