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 