The bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club pick and BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick. For readers of Circe and The Handmaid’s Tale , Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s The Mercies is inspired by real historical events – a story about the strength and courage of women. ‘Dark, dramatic and full of danger’ – Daily Mail The storm comes in like a finger snap . . . 1617. The sea around the remote Norwegian island of Vardø is thrown into a vicious storm. A young woman, Maren, watches as the men of the island, out fishing, perish in an instant. Vardø is now a place of women . . . Eighteen months later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet has been summoned to bring the women of the island to heel. With him travels his young wife, Ursa. In her new home, and in Maren, Ursa encounters something she has never seen before: independent women. But where Ursa finds happiness, even love, Absalom sees only a place flooded with a terrible evil, one he must root out at all costs . . . A story about how suspicion can twist its way through a community, about a love that could prove as dangerous as it is powerful. ‘ Gripping ‘ – Madeline Miller, author of Circe ‘ Took my breath away ‘ – Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring ‘A beautifully intimate story of friendship, love and hope’ – Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain ‘Something rare and beautiful’ – Marian Keyes, author of Again, Rachel ‘Chilling and page-turning’ – The Times