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The Shape of Mercy A Novel Editorial Reviews
Source: Product Description
“We understand what we want to understand.”
Leaving a life of privilege to strike out on her own, Lauren Durough breaks with convention and her family’s expectations by choosing a state college over Stanford and earning her own income over accepting her ample monthly allowance. She takes a part-time job from 83-year-old librarian Abigail Boyles, who asks Lauren to transcribe the journal entries of her ancestor Mercy Hayworth, a victim of the Salem witch trials.
Almost immediately, Lauren finds herself drawn to this girl who lived and died four centuries ago. As the fervor around the witch accusations increases, Mercy becomes trapped in the worldview of the day, unable to fight the overwhelming influence of snap judgments and superstition, and Lauren realizes that the secrets of Mercy’s story extend beyond the pages of her diary, living on in the mysterious, embittered Abigail.
The strength of her affinity with Mercy forces Lauren to take a startling new look at her own life, including her relationships with Abigail, her college roommate, and a young man named Raul. But on the way to the truth, will Lauren find herself playing the helpless defendant or the misguided judge? Can she break free from her own perceptions and see who she really is?
The Shape of Mercy A Novel Customer Reviews:
Average Rating: 4.5 (50 reviews)
Rating: 5 (Extremely Moving) Was helpful to 1 from 1 votes
I picked up this book because I find the Salem witch trials endlessly fascinating and I wanted to see how the author handled the diary element to this novel.
The Shape of Mercy totally exceeded all of my expectations. The writing is spare and lovely, and the way in which the stories of these three women - Mercy, the young Puritan girl; Abigail, the elderly librarian; and Lauren, the privileged college student - connect and intertwine was seamless and powerful. Mercy's story is especially moving, her romance especially sweet - I'm not ashamed to say I cried more than once - and is cleverly inserted into history without feeling forced.
This is the story of three very different woman - the story of their loves, both won and lost; the story of how they each, in their own way, deal with prejudice and judgement, both their own and the world's; the story of their affect on each other's lives.
A lovely, moving read. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5 (Christian inspirational literature at its best) Was helpful to 2 from 3 votes
She knows her family's money comes with quite a cost for college student Lauren Durough. As long as she depends on that wealth to finance her she will never be autonomous from their purse string control. Though scared, she accepts a position working for octogenarian Abigail Boyles.
The unpleasant bitter older woman hires Lauren to transcribe the journal of her ancestor Mercy Hayworth, whose first hand account of the seventeenth century Salem witch trials come alive in her diary though she was convicted. As she performs her work, Lauren begins to heed the advice of the courageous Mercy, but also realizes the seventeenth century chronicler's descendent remains bitter for failing to confront her personal issues; Lauren vows to follow Mercy's lead although she is not sure where it will take her except it gives her hope and she believes it does likewise for acrimonious Abigail.
This is Christian inspirational literature at its best as Susan Meissner entertains yet gets her message of hope and faith to her readers through her three female characters without preaching. The diary is incredible as Mercy goes through several emotions including feeling the Lord abandoned her, but throughout believes that though she dies unfairly God awaits her. Her overall optimism lifts Lauren and eventually Abigail as well as readers. THE SHAPE OF MERCY is moving and encouraging.
Harriet Klausner
Rating: 4 (Captivating) Was helpful to 6 from 6 votes
I won't summarize Shape of Mercy since there are adequate ones elsewhere. I felt the author created something unusual for the Christian market--a book where faith is woven in tight, small, and strong. You can't pull the faith element without losing the story. And yet, it's not overpowering or overbearing. It is certainly a book that keeps you reading. I did not like it when I had to put it down. I cared about the three women very much. I liked that Lauren was flawed. Although I hated how she behaved at certain times, I still wanted to walk through this story with her. I always enjoy historical fiction (because I hated history textbooks and learned little), so the historical thread captured me as well. It made me want to read more on the subject.
Rating: 4 (Not your typical Witch hunt!!) Was helpful to 0 from 0 votes
When I started reading this book I was totally drawn into the characters lives and the situations they struggled with. I didn't read the back cover and had no idea that this story was about the Salem Witch Trials. I'm happy to report that this story is a wonderful blend of excerpts from Mercy Hayworth's diary, with events that happen in her life leading up to the trials, and snippets of Lauren Durough (a young college student) and Abigail Boyles (x-Libran) lives, and how they reacted to the diary. Mercy spills her heart out onto the pages of her diary, and it transcends time to reach out and touch the hearts of both Abigail and Lauren. It touched mine too. I don't think I could have endured reading this book if all Susan Meissner talked about was the witch trials, which were so heart wrenching.
Abigail is an 83 year old retired librarian who contracts Lauren Durough to transcribe an original diary written around the 1690's by Mercy Hayworth. Lauren is taken by Mercy's life and is quickly consumed with her story. Lauren soon discovers that there is more to Mercy than the diary she is transcribing. Abigail points out to Lauren "A woman is more than what she says about herself!" Lauren agrees that this was definitely true of Mercy.
Lauren soon discovers the "love" story in the middle of all the sadness in Mercy's life. Lauren could see how Abigail was drawn into the love story like no other, by a girl so young and innocent. When Lauren is transcribing, she thinks of what her father told her "People are always watching you, so you can't give them something to talk about. If you reveal a weakness they will use it against you. You must always guard your appearance." Her father was speaking of the company he ran, the money he made and the standard that was set for him as the owner of the company.
Lauren realized that her father's words had a whole new meaning for Mercy Hayworth during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. People started watching everyone and accusing them of terrible things, things that were not true and could not be proven untrue. Mercy struggled in her spirit; she knew that all the people accused were not witches, but if she spoke in defense of the accused, she would become accused of being a witch herself. If she said nothing, she condemned her friends with her silence. "What would God have her do?", she wondered.
My heart soon went out to Mercy Hayworth who was an author and faithful, loving daughter . She wrote stories of fairies and talking birds, and at the age of nineteen, fell victim to the Salem Witch Trials. In 1692, seven young girls in Salem, Mass., began having hallucinations and seizures. Unable to account for their afflictions, and believing as most Puritans did, anything unexplainable and terrible was of the devil, and the local physician declared that they were bewitched. I hadn't studied this topic in school much and had no idea how the trials began. I was astounded at the fact that this community believed such a thing. But given that our modern world has so many cults all over the place, I guess it wasn't such a stretch to believe that something so horrible could have happened in 1692. The characters in this story, both past and present, discover that life is full of choices, some really hard to make. But choices none the less. I love how Susan puts it "NEVER let someone else tell you what to think!". How true that is!
You will walk away from this book wanting to search out more about this time period and what else Mercy went through that Susan Meissner didn't tell you about. This book will definitely make you think about your own life and how you look at people!! This story was so moving. I can't wait to read another book by Susan Meissner.
Finding Hope Through Fiction
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Rating: 5 (Perfect Book Club Pick) Was helpful to 0 from 0 votes
I loved this book and can't wait to pass it along to the members of my book club. There are so many layers worthy of discussion. If you like Jodi Picoult or Karen Kingsbury, you must read this novel.
