This was a fantastic atmospheric novel about the repercussions of the witch hunts encouraged by King James VI and enflamed across Europe, right down to a tiny Norwegian village. I understand from the author's notes that this book was partly inspired by the Witches' Monument, a memorial that stands in rememberance of the women and men who were persecuted and killed during this dark time.
I was fascinated with the relationships in this book. The women are all such strong characters and even though as a modern reader one knows that the verdicts always end in tragedy it was a real joy to follow the development of each person in the village. From a stranger to a holy man to a husband to a zealot, Absalom is a genuinely terrifying character by the end. That said it is the women, with their strength and their flaws and their enduring love that make The Mercies a heartbreakingly compelling work.

The storm brings more than just rain! A thrilling tale of change, independence and control! A fantastic narrative with inspirational female protagonists who work to defy the odds!

Wow! What a truly heart wrenching novel. Never before has a book so utterly destroyed my soul, and based on true events ,no less!
Maren is such a complex and deep character, whose emotions play with my own. I especially loved seeing how her relationship with the other women on the island changed over the 18 months after the storm. Her friendship with Diinna was especially interesting to see, as Maren truly adores the cold hard sorcerers daughter.
Another element in this book that I loved was all the talk of omens and signs, Maren’s dreams with the whale were truly haunting.
I’d say my favourite scenes were the ones at the beginning where Maren visits the boathouse to see the swelling bodies of the dead men, they were chilling and so upsetting to see her loved ones bodies so destroyed and ruined.
This book goes straight to the top of my favourites list and I’d recommend this book to anybody who wants an empowering and beautiful novel to read.

Kiran Millwood Hargrave's latest book shows just how violent men can become when women attempt to claim their equal share of power and control. When a preternatural storm sinks an entire fishing fleet, the surviving women have no choice but to take up oars and fish for themselves. This break in tradition prompts the church to call in a witchfinder. While he holds daily meetings with the village gossips, his new wife forms a bond with one of the grieving women.
Milwood Hargrave skilfully brings Medieval Norway to life; the text is peppered with Norwegian words and references to religious and spiritual practises that are part of the village's daily life. Hargrave avoids 'infodumping' and instead allows us to adjust to village life slowly through sights, sounds and smells. Just as we have become familiar with the village, the witchfinder and his wife arrive along with their 'big city' prejudices. We realise how small and dark the village looks to an outsider, and how suspicious the women (with their carved runes, woven poppets and men's trousers) must seem. Many authors idealise 'rustic' living; Hargraves confronts the hardships that her village women face without judging their 'provincial' way of life. The wealthy burghers' attempts to keep the village ignorant and under the spell of the church begin to fail as the women become more self-sufficient, and their only recourse to power is torture and burning. The book demonstrates how much those in power fear those without, and what lengths they are willing to go to to make sure they remain at the top at the pile.

Kiran's writiting is so beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it was interesting to read it as I had taken my daughter to hear her speak at the Southbank Festival. I can't wait to read her next book.

Some books linger long after you finish them; the scenes and characters replaying endlessly, thoughts of what might happen next haunting you. The Mercies is one of those books and although it’s a fictionalised account and the characters are indeed not real, it’s based on true events.

It’s Christmas in a remote part of Norway (which may now be Finland) and the women of a small village on a small island watch in horror as a storm blows up out of nowhere and wipes out all the menfolk. Their grief divides them, some turning to the church and piety tinged with malice and suspicion, others in time choosing action and self-sufficiency. But their king is watching James VI in Scotland with admiration and decides it’s time to weed out witchcraft in his own kingdom. The north of his country, where the Sami practice their ancient religion is the obvious place to start. And when the Commissioner he puts in place hears about a village full of women he knows there’s only one reason for the unnatural storm: witches.

The story follows two different women, Ursula has been married to the new Commissioner’s newly installed overseer, a zealous, sadistic man. She’s left her comfortable home in Bergen and her poorly sister to try and eke out a living in a harsh landscape she doesn’t understand. But in this landscape she makes a friend, Maren, a woman who lost her father, brother and fiancé in the storm. The two women grew ever closer but when Marron’s friends come under suspicion and her Sami my sister-in-law refuses to when attend church events overwhelm them.

This is a compelling, uncomfortable book about grief, friendship, love, hatred and what happens when differences divide us. Knowing it’s based on a true story makes reading and understanding the cycle of events even harder, even as vivid writing pulls you deeper in. Haunting, beautiful and devastating, this is that this is an unforgettable read.

I found this quite hard to read, the stylised writing almost too complex to easily enjoy, every sentence needed 'chewing' because of the amount of words. Almost felt like it was trying to be too clever, so whilst I tried to focus on the convoluted descriptions the story began to get lost - I had to read lots of it twice to ensure the words had gone in and then the plot.
It was interesting and I enjoyed the unravelling of the relationships between the women - lots of deep-seated emotions and history - and the setting was great, really stark and bleak - but again the amount of different descriptions to describe it started to get tiresome.
Still I am sure because of the fascination with the Nordics and Scandis right now I'm probably in the minority.

As a fan of Kiran Millwood Hargrave's middle grade novels, I was curious to see how she would approach an adult target audience. From the opening pages, it was clear the transition would be seamless, losing none of the magic of her children's fiction.

This is a wonderfully crafted Nordic novel, atmospheric without ever losing touch of its human heart. It's not a sweeping historical epic, despite its majestic and brutal setting: instead, 'The Mercies' explores the themes of suspicion and trust, love and fear, through the eyes of two women caught up in the insular politics of a small town at the edge of the world. Character is at the heart of the storytelling here, and I felt I had a real sense of how these characters lived, and how their world could shape and break them.

Simply put, 'The Mercies' is as poetic and powerful as the casting of a spell. It's one of those stories that will stay with me.

Well written and compelling story.

This book isn’t one you just forget about once you have read, the story lingers and the more you think about it the better you realise it is.

A island of Women,
Ok Christmas Eve a storm suddenly appeared and changes things forever, 40 of the men are killed in the storm whilst fishing with the desperate Women watching on from the land unable to do anything. The year is 1617 and we are in island off of Norway called Vardo. However you can learn that from the books description what you won't learn is how great this book is, how well written, how hooked you will be once you turn to the first page
Maren is a local who lost her Dad, Brother and fiance in that fatal storm and hence her world along with many other women is changes forever. They are forced to do jobs only men should like taking the boats out to fish. Only men should according to the religious rules of the country but stomachs won't be filled waiting for someone to swop in and save the day. The Church Minister seems to disprove (he also used to fish with the men even though he didn't have to), but in truth he knows it is to survive as opposed to the breaking of the rules or traditional customs that far too many hold on to even today.
After 18 months Absalom arrives (the same name as the son of King David that arose up to try and take his crown in the Bible). He has a mission and has been hand picked for the job. On route he collects a wife from a ship owner in Bregon. She is young and beautiful Ursa but has to leave behind her sick 13 year old sister which is a wrench but she has little choice. Vardo is a big shock to her system and were before she had servants now it is her duty to wash and cook which she has never had to do before so doesn't know how. And she arrives without a coat to cope with the severe weather in Vardo. As with most groups of people there are two camps and here is no difference the religious fighting the none, most go to the Church but that doesn't stop some being labelled witches and we'll you need to read this to find out what happens
What follows is a captivating novel that is totally believable and one you will not regret buying in my opinion. And one you won't want miss out on.

Thank you to Picador and NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

I had previously read Hargrave's YA novel and enjoyed her writing style but The Mercies sees Hargrave transition seamlessly into adult fiction.

This is historical fiction at its best and would make for a wonderful Winter/early Spring read - it is atmospheric and the landscape is described beautifully and you can truly imagine yourself there. The life and hardship of the women fits well with the setting and the relationships between them feel very real and true to form.

I cannot wait to see what Hargrave does next.

4/5.

Maren, a young Norwegian woman, betrothed to a fisherman in the tiny island of Vardo, witnesses a literal storm which destroys half of her village and a metaphorical one which lays waste to her future. Ursa, the well-bred but naive daughter of a Bergen merchant is handed over in marriage to a dour Scottish witchfinder who takes her to Vardo where she meets Maren and finds her only ally in the troubles which ensnare them both.

I read this novel in barely three sittings, spellbound by the horror and the raw beauty of the setting as well as the gorgeous, visceral prose. Hargrave is unsparing in her narrative but full of empathy for the innocents caught up in the madness of 17th century witchcraft hysteria. I will defintely look out for more from this writer.

A stunning tale of courage and love which is very thought provoking long after it is finished. Well written and a gripping read

Beautifully written historical piece that got the right point to give the readers enough information to immerse us in the time period without sounding boring or like a textbook.
The story flows easily and each character is strongly built. I specially loved Diina, Maren, Kristen, and Ursa. But the best point is that even the characters we are supposed not to like, are still relatable in some way, because the author is that good at building up people that feel.real.
To know that true events inspired this fiction makes for an even better experience.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with and ARC of this novel in exchange of my honest review.

What makes a witch? In this chillingly dark tale Kiran Millwood Hargrave. gradually reveals how a storm changes the lives of the women of Vardø, forever. She skilfully portrays the horror that befalls a fractured community, who are furthered divided by incomers - People from a whole different way of life who have little or no empathy with the rhythms of Vardø and the measure the women had to take to survive.

This is a powerful story based on a true historical period. One of which I knew nothing and now wish to research. It took me a little while to get into the story, but it was obvious from the beginning this is not going to be a happy ever after story. As I became involved and engrossed in their world and the vivid description help me to place myself there and I cared about the women. I was left wanting more and yearning to find out what happened to them.

I loved this book, and very quickly became drawn in to the very claustrophobic lives of Maren and Ursa. The author conjured up a real sense of remoteness, and isolation in Vardo, and there was a constant feeling of dread following the arrival of Absalom, which made the book almost painful to read at times. The characters are believable, even if they are hard to relate to. The harsh existence of the women of Vardo is always made clear, without interfering with the story. This was an engrossing, and enjoyable read, and I would heartily recommend it.

"Even after all this, Maren thinks, Ursa believes herself to have power over him. Witch-hunter or no, Absalom is, after all, still only a man."

The Mercies is inspired by a historical event, the Vardø storm of 1617 where a terrible storm sank ten ships and killed forty men- the majority of Vardø's male population. This storm ultimately led to one of the biggest witch-trials in Scandinavia, and the first major witch-trial in Norway under the new laws of witchcraft and sorcery.

Maren Magnusdatter watched her father, brother and her husband-to-be die in the sudden storm, along with all of the men in her village. Left behind are just boys that were too young to go out to fish, and the women. They must learn to fend for themselves. And they adjust, as women often do, learning to cope with their collective grief and teaching themselves to fish and to slaughter and to take on the jobs that were traditionally male. They survive that way for eighteen months, before a pious Scotsman is sent to regain control of Vardø and the women who live there. Absalom Cornet isn't just a religious man, he is also a violent witch-hunter and where his young wife Ursa sees independent, strong women, he sees danger and evil that must be rooted out at all costs. This story is as twisted by suspicion as it is empowered by love, and shows the best and the worst that can come of a very human desire to survive.

My full 'why to buy' will be available in February, in time for the release of this book, but these are my initial impressions. The Mercies is a haunting, beautiful story about human nature and the impact of fear and suspicion on a small community. The storm took their menfolk, and the women were suddenly under pressure. This caused tiny fractures to appear, but there were more important concerns so the women kept keeping on, and made things work. It wasn't until eighteen months later, when Absalom and Ursa moved to the village and Absalom began to apply pressure to those fractures that the whole community suddenly and violently broke apart.

The Mercies pretty much broke my heart, but I knew that was going to happen from the start. This book doesn't give you any allusions that you're going to get a happy, glorious ending, and what else would you expect? It's the 1600s, and we're talking about witch-hunters and sapphic characters. I was pretty sure I was getting an unhappy ending from the start but I still let myself get overly attached to the women in this story, and hoped somehow that they'd overcome the injustices of history and create a happily ever after. I finished the book, and I'm now genuinely kicking myself that I've read this book in September, and now I've got to wait until February before more people read it and I can talk about it with everyone I know.

Kiran Millwood Hargrave's writing is beautiful. It's poetic and powerful, and I was drawn into her vivid descriptions of the environment so much that I was half-convinced I could feel the chill of the ice, even when I was laid reading it in the sunshine. If this is any example of her writing, I can't wait for my copy of The Deathless Girls to show up at the end of the month, because I'm desperate to read more of her prose. Her characters in particular were masterfully created. I felt for the women, even the kirke-women to a certain extent, because it felt so much that they were being manipulated by their society, and I felt even more for Maren and Ursa. Both women had lost everything, families fractured by loss and distance and they found each other as a tiny haven of gentle peace in a harsh and unforgiving environment.

And then there's Absalom. At this point, there's not much else I can say about Absalom, given that at every opportunity I write essays about how much I hate him. At first I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, reluctantly writing up his treatment of Ursa as a symptom of the way society treated women in general - still wrong, but didn't necessarily mean that Absalom himself was a bad person. Absalom is a TERRIBLE person. I'm not going into it in much detail, because a lot of it is tied into Ursa's discovery of her husband's history and that's much more powerful to read from her perspective than from mine. But let it be said: I hate him.

I don't tend to read historical fiction, but character driven fiction is my bread and butter, and Kiran Millwood Hargrave has created a masterful character piece here, worth picking up no matter what genre you tend to read.

Blog review #1 : https://inkandplasma.wordpress.com/2019/09/04/review-the-mercies/
Blog review #2, will go live 05/02/2020: https://inkandplasma.wordpress.com/2020/02/05/why-should-i-buy-the-mercies/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2957063869

The Mercies is not an easy read - the writing style employed by the writer is sparse (to reflect the landscape, I imagine) but ends up being a distraction until the reader can get far enough into the book that the writing style becomes submerged by the intriguing storyline (about 15-20% of the way through). This is a shame - in the 'letter' sections of the book, it is apparent that the author can write in a much 'easier' way, and I can't help wishing that the author had chosen to do this all the way through the book. As it stands, I worry that many will hate the writing style so much that they will 'give up' on the interesting story being told.
While the story is a fiction, it is roughly based on events that did happen, and these events should certainly have been a good basis for a novel concerned with the clash of three or four different cultures.
I have read books in the past that have been like wading through mud, each word serving a dual purpose of both description and story-building, this book certainly falls into that category, but seems to end just as the story is truly becoming fulfilling.
A flawed book, that should have delivered far more than it did.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my review copy.