On Christmas Eve, 1617, the sea around the remote Norwegian island of Vardø is thrown into a reckless storm. As Maren Magnusdatter watches, forty fishermen, including her father and brother are lost to the waves - their menfolk are lost in an instant.
Vardø is now a place of women.
THE MERCIES by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Published: Jan 2020
Genre: Adult Fiction
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is an incredible book, written by an author that I've already raved about multiple times this year. I'm captivated by the unique and strong female characters she weaves through her stories, and find myself just as gripped by her writing.
In The Mercies, Kiran Millwood Hargrave provides a bleak and desolate landscape for her story through the isolated island of Vardø where a group of women are surviving under a veil of grief after the death of their sons and husbands in a sudden storm.
They become forcibly yet fiercely independent, fending for themselves through a hard winter. Until a commissioner arrives in the village with his new wife Ursa, called upon to take control.
Vardø, to Ursa, appears to be a place inhabited by hardy women possessing independence like she has never known. But to her husband, it's a place permeating ungodly evil that it is his mission to root out and be rid of.
The Commissioner comes with a reputation for rooting out "witches" and bringing them to fiery justice. And when his attention falls on the sudden manifestation of the storm that killed Vardø's menfolk, tensions in the village begin to run high.
This is a brilliantly researched historical fiction. Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1621 witch trials, this is a story of loss, dangerous love, and suspicion that spreads through Vardø with plague-like efficiency as the women begin to turn on each other, manipulated by the Commissioner.
The story focuses on two characters in particular, Maren who's father, brother and fiancé were lost in the storm; and Ursa, the commissioners young wife. Both have reason to fear the commissioner's authority, and find solace and friendship in each other when Ursa first arrives in the village.
The two characters feel solid and real against the bleak backdrop and the horrors stirring around them.
The climax of the story is suitably dramatic, but unexpected. It cemented my love of this book and the strength of the characters.
As always, I thoroughly recommend this book. Actually, all of Kiran Millwood Hargrave's books. Let me know if you read The Mercies on my recommendation, or if you've had the experience of reading it already. I'd love to know what you think!
Published in January 2020, this is the most recent of Kiran Millwood Hargrave's books, as well as being her first Adult Fiction. Previously her novels have been Young Adult or Middle Grade fantasy and fiction - all of which I've rated very highly. But the tone of The Mercies is certainly more mature, as are the emotions and events running through it.
Happy reading!
Zuzu 🖋
Find me inbetween blogs @zuzuspages on Instagram Facebook Twitter
In The Mercies, Kiran Millwood Hargrave provides a bleak and desolate landscape for her story through the isolated island of Vardø where a group of women are surviving under a veil of grief after the death of their sons and husbands in a sudden storm.
They become forcibly yet fiercely independent, fending for themselves through a hard winter. Until a commissioner arrives in the village with his new wife Ursa, called upon to take control.
Vardø, to Ursa, appears to be a place inhabited by hardy women possessing independence like she has never known. But to her husband, it's a place permeating ungodly evil that it is his mission to root out and be rid of.
The Commissioner comes with a reputation for rooting out "witches" and bringing them to fiery justice. And when his attention falls on the sudden manifestation of the storm that killed Vardø's menfolk, tensions in the village begin to run high.
This is a brilliantly researched historical fiction. Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1621 witch trials, this is a story of loss, dangerous love, and suspicion that spreads through Vardø with plague-like efficiency as the women begin to turn on each other, manipulated by the Commissioner.
The story focuses on two characters in particular, Maren who's father, brother and fiancé were lost in the storm; and Ursa, the commissioners young wife. Both have reason to fear the commissioner's authority, and find solace and friendship in each other when Ursa first arrives in the village.
The two characters feel solid and real against the bleak backdrop and the horrors stirring around them.
The climax of the story is suitably dramatic, but unexpected. It cemented my love of this book and the strength of the characters.
As always, I thoroughly recommend this book. Actually, all of Kiran Millwood Hargrave's books. Let me know if you read The Mercies on my recommendation, or if you've had the experience of reading it already. I'd love to know what you think!
Published in January 2020, this is the most recent of Kiran Millwood Hargrave's books, as well as being her first Adult Fiction. Previously her novels have been Young Adult or Middle Grade fantasy and fiction - all of which I've rated very highly. But the tone of The Mercies is certainly more mature, as are the emotions and events running through it.
Happy reading!
Zuzu 🖋
Find me inbetween blogs @zuzuspages on Instagram Facebook Twitter
Sounds absolutely fascinating and as always, your amazing reviews make me want to read, read, read x
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