The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

About the Book

The storm comes in like a finger snap . . .1617. The sea around the remote Norwegian island of Vardø is thrown into a vicious storm. A young woman, Maren, watches as the men of the island, out fishing, perish in an instant.

Vardø is now a place of women.

Eighteen months later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet has been summoned to bring the women of the island to heel. With him travels his young wife, Ursa. In her new home, and in Maren, Ursa encounters something she has never seen before: independent women. But where Ursa finds happiness, even love, Absalom sees only a place flooded with a terrible evil, one he must root out at all costs . . .

Editorial Reviews

The Mercies is among the best novels I’ve read in years. In addition to its beautiful writing, its subject matter is both enduring and timely― New York Times Book Review

This is a powerful story that gathers ever more momentum as it moves towards its conclusion― Sunday Times

Historical fiction fans looking for a Handmaid's Tale-style twist will love this novel . . . A story of danger, love and power - with Big Offred Energy ― Cosmopolitan

Passionate, stirring and conveying a terrifying atmosphere of claustrophobic oppression, Hargrave’s gripping tale of courageous women facing overwhelming odds is helped along no end by the vividness of her bleak island location and her depiction of the dynamics of a God-fearing fishing village as opposing factions struggle for control― The Herald

Elegant and chilling . . . an absorbing account of women finding power and grace and love even under the most harrowing circumstances― USA Today

The Mercies is a gripping tale of love and obsession, inspired by the real events of a storm on the Norwegian island of Vardø in 1617 that prompted witch trials. Absalom Cornet, the man used to bring the women to submission, is a creepy creation by Millwood, in her debut adult novel― i-news

Based on real events, this is a stunning, intensely told story about sisterhood, superstition and prejudice― Good Housekeeping

About the Author

Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Kiran Millwood Hargrave is an award-winning poet, playwright, and novelist.

Her books include the bestselling winner of the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year and the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2017 The Girl of Ink & Stars, and Costa Book Awards- and Blue Peter Awards-shortlisted The Island at the End of Everything, and The Way Past Winter, Blackwell's Children's Book of the Year 2018. A Secret of Birds & Bone, her fourth middle-grade title, was published in 2020. Julia and the Shark, in collaboration with her husband, artist Tom de Freston, was Indie Book of the Month, Scottish Booktrust Book of the Month, and has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year 2021.

Her debut YA novel The Deathless Girls was published in 2019, and was shortlisted for the YA Book Prize, and long-listed for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. Her first book for adults, The Mercies, debuted as The Time's number 1 bestseller, and at number 5 in the Sunday Times Bestseller Charts. Writing for the New York Times Book Review, Emily Barton called it 'among the best novels I've read in years, and it won a Betty Trask Award.

She is represented by Hellie Ogden (UK) and Kirby Kim (US) at Janklow & Nesbit. Kiran lives in Oxford with her husband and their cats, Luna and Marly.