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A review by inkdrinkerreads
The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
4.0
The whole way through this striking work of historical fiction, I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of familiarity. Set in 1617 and inspired by true events that rocked the Norwegian fishing village of Vardø, Hargraves’ novel has the bleak, Scandinavian setting of ‘Burial Rites’, the prejudice and fear of pre-Christian rituals shared by ‘Hamnet’ (amongst many others) and the impotent helplessness in the face of hysteria at the centre of ‘The Crucible’. Like Miller’s famous play, ‘The Mercies’ takes its inspiration from a series of devastating witch trials, in which women were sent to the stake for the pettiest of reasons.
Hargraves opens the action with the brutality of a sudden storm wiping out the entire male population of Vardø, their wives, mothers and sisters watching helplessly as the sea consumes their lives whole. Left alone, the women of the village pull together to survive. Talk of the evil storm and a community of self-dependent women soon reaches the ears of the rest of the world, in particular, a new Commissioner summoned to root out the dark magic at work in Vardø and to do what he has done to great notoriety already: kill witches. But is there really magic going on in Vardø? Well if you consider women wearing trousers, fishing for themselves and turning to charms for comfort as witchcraft then, yes, plenty. Unfortunately, that is precisely enough evidence of devilry for the god-fearing patriarchy.
However, despite the inevitability of the narrative, this is a story not about witches or trials, it is one about female defiance, friendship and romance. Though the sea is cruel and capricious, it is the whims of petty, jealous, unforgiving men that prove to be the most calamitous to women not afraid to believe, feel and act how they wish.
Whilst the book treads familiar themes and approaches historical events in familiar ways, Hargraves’ writing and characterisation make this a gripping read nonetheless. The final chapters in particular move with a dreamlike aura, full of barbarism, grief, hope and loss. 2020 has been a good year for literary witches and it’s not hard to see why. We may not burn women on pyres anymore, but you only have to pop on Twitter for 2 minutes to see that persecution, malicious slander and rampant misogyny hasn’t changed all that much. Roll on 2021, eh?
Hargraves opens the action with the brutality of a sudden storm wiping out the entire male population of Vardø, their wives, mothers and sisters watching helplessly as the sea consumes their lives whole. Left alone, the women of the village pull together to survive. Talk of the evil storm and a community of self-dependent women soon reaches the ears of the rest of the world, in particular, a new Commissioner summoned to root out the dark magic at work in Vardø and to do what he has done to great notoriety already: kill witches. But is there really magic going on in Vardø? Well if you consider women wearing trousers, fishing for themselves and turning to charms for comfort as witchcraft then, yes, plenty. Unfortunately, that is precisely enough evidence of devilry for the god-fearing patriarchy.
However, despite the inevitability of the narrative, this is a story not about witches or trials, it is one about female defiance, friendship and romance. Though the sea is cruel and capricious, it is the whims of petty, jealous, unforgiving men that prove to be the most calamitous to women not afraid to believe, feel and act how they wish.
Whilst the book treads familiar themes and approaches historical events in familiar ways, Hargraves’ writing and characterisation make this a gripping read nonetheless. The final chapters in particular move with a dreamlike aura, full of barbarism, grief, hope and loss. 2020 has been a good year for literary witches and it’s not hard to see why. We may not burn women on pyres anymore, but you only have to pop on Twitter for 2 minutes to see that persecution, malicious slander and rampant misogyny hasn’t changed all that much. Roll on 2021, eh?