A MercyOn the day that Jacob, an Anglo-Dutch trader, agrees to accept a slave in lieu of payment for a debt from a plantation owner, little Florens's life changes irrevocably. With her keen intelligence and passion for wearing the cast-off shoes of her mistress, Florens has never blurred into the background and now at the age of eight she is taken from her family to begin a new life with a new master. She ends up part of Jacob's household, along with his wife Rebekka, Lina their Native American servant and the enigmatic Sorrow who was rescued from a shipwreck. Together these women face the trials of their harsh environment as Jacob attempts to carve out a place for himself in the brutal landscape of the North of America in the seventeenth century. 'Powerful, elemental... The issues Morrison explores go to the root of what humanity is. They could not be more important' Guardian 'Left me trembling at the sheer brilliance of its storytelling and the unassailable dignity of its purpose' Evening Standard 'So enthralling that you'll want to read it more than once' Sunday Times 'Varied and authoritative and frequently beautiful' New Yorker |
