The Mercies

De: Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Narrado por: Jessie Buckley

The bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club pick and BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick.

For readers of Circe and The Handmaid’s Tale, Kiran Millwood Hargrave's The Mercies is inspired by real historical events – a story about the strength and courage of women.

‘Dark, dramatic and full of danger’ - Daily Mail

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

Reseñas de la Crítica

The Mercies is among the best novels I’ve read in years. In addition to its beautiful writing, its subject matter is both enduring and timely

A gripping novel . . . [Kiran Millwood Hargrave's] 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)

This is a powerful story that gathers ever more momentum as it moves towards its conclusion

The most interesting historical fiction speaks of the time of writing as much as of its subject . . . The Mercies shows us the patriarchal fear of women's strength and reason (Sarah Moss, Guardian)

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

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 . . . I raged, I laughed, I cried. I urge you to read this novel (Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory)

Extraordinary! (Jo Whiley, BBC Radio Book Club)

A book for our times . . . Millwood Hargrave is a whirlwind, storm-building talent (Daisy Johnson, Man Booker Prize shortlisted author of Everything Under)

The Mercies took my breath away . . . 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)

Read if you like Circe by Madeline Miller and Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Sunday Times Style, 'Best New Books for 2020')

Spun from real-life events, this lyrical novel charts the aftermath of a fatal storm in a 17th century Norwegian fishing village: a town almost exclusively composed of women and girls, and the violent witch-burning newcomer hell-bent on their conversion

Based on real events, this is a stunning, intensely told story about sisterhood, superstition and prejudice

The Mercies is a gripping tale of love and obsession, inspired by the real events of a storm on the Norwegian island of Vardø in 1617 that prompted witch trials. Absalom Cornet, the man used to bring the women to submission, is a creepy creation by Millwood, in her debut adult novel

Elegant and chilling . . . an absorbing account of women finding power and grace and love even under the most harrowing circumstances

A dark read filled with suspicion and fear

The Mercies

Lyrical language and a brilliant telling kept me engrossed till the end. Organised religion’s penchant for damning and accusing people of witchcraft and sorcery has always fascinated. Kiran Millwood Hargrave weaves a spell of her own, her language superlative, her characters strongly defined. Highly recommend.

"Clawth"

"Clawth"
That's how the narrator Jessie Buckley pronounces the word cloth. Which seems insignificant, except when it's uttered about every 30 seconds. The narrator's weird mis-pronounciations and "Norwegian" accent only make this rather turgid book more unenjoyable.
The subject of witch trials in a wildly remote part of Scandinavia is darkly fascinating but I think there’s deeper understanding of this to be gained from the Zumthor/Bourgeois installation at the site of the trials than from this novel. To say there are a number of plot-holes is putting it mildly, overall this just feels turgid, and after not much happening for the first 150 pages, it then lurches awkwardly towards an ending that feels both lazy and melodramatic.