The Mercies, Kiran Millwood Hargrave

I love books that have tangles and leave me wondering what I would do in that situation. The Mercies is a story about an impossible situation and how it’s easy to label, but harder to try and understand.

The story starts with a massive storm that kills all the men from a small community the Norwegian coast. The women find ways to provide for themselves, even go fishing, but in the end their actions that helped them survive are condemned.

Ursa, who is a newcomer, is the Norwegian wife of Scottish Absalom. She walks the line of keeping herself safe from her husband, while at the same time, trying to spare the women of Vardo from his wrath.

Ursa is a complex character, both naïve and yet in many ways, showing brave wisdom. She doesn’t want to marry Absalom, but she tries to be a good wife to him. Even so she refuses to abandon her values and who she is.

Absalom was sent to round up and drive out the alleged witches, but it is fairly clear that this is a means to an end. His own promotion. The easier path for Ursa would have been to support him, and profit from his zealous rage. But the difference is that Ursa sees people, even if she doesn’t understand everything about them. She is willing to walk the harder path and try to stand against what she believes is wrong.

What is true for Ursa is true for us too. Everyone we meet has a story and rather than making assumptions, what would happen if we stopped to hear them and to try and understand? Jesus did and look what happened when He stopped to talk with the woman at the well.