Mercy

Theresa Paltzat is the Smart Search librarian at the Edmonton Public
Library.

Welcome to Mercy, a small Manitoba town, settled against a heavily
wooded bog, a wilderness filled with secrets and miracles. Wilderness
and religion, lust and sin, fatherhood and motherhood combine in raw and
beautiful ways to irrevocably change lives.

In her debut novel, Winnipeg author Alissa York brings her readers to
Mercy with two different generations. In the first part, the reader
experiences the years 1948 to 1949 in Mercy. A new priest has come to
town and his first official act is the marriage of orphan Mathilda to
the town butcher. An immediate sexual attraction sparks between the
priest and the bride, too powerful for the emotionally unstable lovers
to cope.

The second part takes places in the present during a single night spent
in the bog. A womanizing pastor has come to town looking for his answers
and willing to change the wilderness to get them. Injured in the woods,
he spends a night being tended by a reclusive woman raised in the bog by
the town drunk.

Readers will be drawn to each character because the author subtly
shifts her language and imagery to reflect the different perspectives of
the characters. York uses Latin headings and the formal language of the
church for the priest and a surprisingly gentle expression of butchering
for Mathilda’s husband. She provides readers with a unique view of the
pastor through the voice of his three-year-old autistic daughter.

This well-written novel is recommended for those who admire Canadian
storytellers Margaret Laurence or Ann-Marie MacDonald.