THE MERCIES

Narrator Jessie Buckley's smooth and mesmerizing narration of this debut historical fiction based on a true event will transport listeners to seventeenth-century Norway. All the men from the coastal village of Vardø are drowned at sea when a freak storm comes up. Grief-stricken, the women they leave behind must fend for themselves and do the work normally reserved for men. As the women rebuild their lives after the deadly incident, a devout colonizer sets foot in their village and starts a witch hunt. Although Buckley's accents are often hit or miss, her strong voice and laid-back pacing carry the story forward, elevate the intricate world-building, and evoke a bygone era. A.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2020]