The Mercies

Inspired by real historical events, The Mercies is a breathtaking story of love, fear and obsession, and the strength and courage of women.

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 andfull 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

      Dark and menacing, retelling the story of a witch hunt on the isolated island of Vardo, off the coast of Norway . . . Millwood Hargrave slowly builds an atmosphere of suspicion and superstition as new loyalties and old rivalries rear up. Small jealousies, petty misunderstandings and personal dislikes are magnified in the close-knit surroundings, with religion, belief and piety at the heart of disputes

      Vorwort
      Inspired by real historical events, The Mercies is a breathtaking story of love, fear and obsession, and the strength and courage of women.

      Autorentext

      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. They have also been shortlisted for prizes such as the Costa Children's Book Award, the Blue Peter Best Story Award and the Foyles Book of the Year Award. The Mercies is is her first novel for adults. Kiran lives by the river in Oxford, with her husband, artist Tom de Freston, and their rescue cat, Luna.

      Zusammenfassung
      Inspired by real historical events, The Mercies is a breathtaking story of love, fear and obsession, and the strength and courage of women.