The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Publisher: Pan Macmillan (UK) (^^edition) // Little, Brown and Company (US)
Publication Date: February 6th, 2020 // February 11th, 2020
Pages: 256
Summary (from Goodreads):
"Every once in a while, a modern day parable, perfectly told, reflects all that could happen in a world gone mad." - Adriana Trigiani
Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardø must fend for themselves.
Three years later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband's authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren, Ursa sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God, and flooded with a mighty evil.
As Maren and Ursa are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, the island begins to close in on them, with Absalom's iron rule threatening Vardø's very existence.
Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1621 witch trials, The Mercies is a story of love, evil, and obsession, set at the edge of civilization.
Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardø must fend for themselves.
Three years later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband's authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren, Ursa sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God, and flooded with a mighty evil.
As Maren and Ursa are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, the island begins to close in on them, with Absalom's iron rule threatening Vardø's very existence.
Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1621 witch trials, The Mercies is a story of love, evil, and obsession, set at the edge of civilization.
Last weekend, I was going through upcoming 2020 books and figuring out what I was going to be looking forward to next year and this book jumped out at me.
So, a few weeks ago, I was aimlessly scrolling through Pinterest and I stumbled across a pin that said, "Are there any witches in your family tree? Here's how to find out." And I said, "I don't know. ARE there any witches in my family tree? Let's find out!"
So I spent two weeks obsessively creating a family tree on Ancestry and trying to go back as far as possible. That is a lot more work than it felt like it should be. The amount of hints you get when you get going is OVERWHELMING.
Anyway, in one little wing of my family tree, I got back to Norway to about the time of the events this book is based on and the name looked vaguely familiar from my family tree search. It's probably a made up name, and after loudly gasping and double checking, there isn't anyone in what I have filled out of my tree by that name. I think it just looked familiar because there is at least one, but possibly a few people by the name of Marit and I'm pretty sure I also came across the name Magnusdatter. But not together.
But how cool would it have been to find the answer to my aimless Pinterest scroll by doing a mostly aimless Goodreads scroll?
Anyway, this book sounds really interesting and I'm excited to check this one out in February! I'm thinking about preordering the UK version after I balance my checkbook because the cover (pictured) is way prettier than the US version.
What books are you looking forward to this week?
No comments:
Post a Comment