The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Published by Little, Brown and Company on February 6, 2020
my rating: ★★.5
Goodreads avg: 4.06 (as of 2020-06-08)
Spoiler-free review
Goodreads | IndieBound | Author Website
Though his touch is gentle it feels bruising even through clothes: she can’t suffer a man to touch her, however well meant.
I wonder if I would’ve gotten along better with this had I not consumed so much media about the Salem witch trials over the course of my life (fun fact: one of my ancestors was in the trials). While the setting is different, the story is largely similar to those out of Salem — but make it gay. The novel is based on true events, though. My issue is just that I didn’t feel Hargrave brought anything new to the table with it; it was easy for me to see what was coming and I dreaded picking the book up. While I love my fair share of sad stories, I feel like I always get something out of them and that just wasn’t the case here. If you haven’t been inundated with stories of witch trials, I think this would work better for you. For me, it just felt like another of the same.
content warnings: death of a loved one, sexual assault, miscarriage
My current 2020 Women’s Prize Squad Longlist rankings:
Sarah Ames-Foley 
I’m sad you didn’t really get on with this one! Hopefully your next read from the list is more successful for you 😊
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aw, me too! glad you loved it, though. 🙂
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I really liked this one but I haven’t read much about witch trials so it probably felt fresher to me. I actually liked that it was about witch trials somewhere other than Salem!
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good, i’m glad it worked well for you! 🙂
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Great review! I think I will like this a bit more because I’ve read so little of the Salem witch trials fiction. Looking forward!
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thanks! i hope you end up loving it 🙂
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Nice review! Sorry to see Salem knowledge made this one less exciting for you. I really liked that so much of the focus here was on relationships and the community, but I know there’s some of that in Salem stories as well, so perhaps a lack of prior readings helped me more than I realized. I hope you’ll have better luck with your next Women’s Prize Squad read! 🙂
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Thanks! I can definitely see why you would like those things. 🙂 I think I just personally found them a little humdrum. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood!
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GIRL you’re a descendant of Rebecca Eames??? That’s so interesting! Is this like, known family history or did you discover this recently?
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hell yeah! my grandmother was really into genealogy so i’ve known since i was a kid.
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i felt the same way about this! i think this book was really readable for me in the moment, but proved v forgettable once i had finished it. i also really didnt like the ending; felt like it came outta nowhere 🤷♀️
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omg i was super irritated at the ending! it didn’t feel like it fit the rest of the book for sure. yeah, i don’t really see myself remembering much about this one.
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