Sweet Mercy
Stunning coming-of-age drama set during the Great Depression and Prohibition
When Eve Marryat's father is laid off from the Ford Motor Company in 1931, he is forced to support his family by leaving St. Paul, Minnesota, and moving back to his Ohio roots. Eve's uncle Cyrus has invited the family to live and work at his Marryat Island Ballroom and Lodge.
Eve can't wait to leave St. Paul, a notorious haven for gangsters. At seventeen, she considers her family to be "good people," not lawbreakers like so many in her neighborhood. Thrilled to be moving to a "safe haven," Eve soon forms an unlikely friendship with a strange young man named Link, blissfully unaware that her uncle's lodge is anything but what it seems.
When the reality of her situation finally becomes clear, Eve is faced with a dilemma. Does she dare risk everything by exposing the man whose love and generosity is keeping her family from ruin? And when things turn dangerous, can she trust Link in spite of appearances?
I'm happy to be a part of this blog tour today for Sweet Mercy. I love books that give me a bit of a history lesson without seeming exactly like a history lesson. When I get to learn about parts of history with the fictional elements of characters it really helps me to have an idea of what people must have been thinking and feeling at the time.
Sweet Mercy was a gentle flowing book that followed Eve and her family through a summer never to be forgotten. Eve is pretty idealistic and perhaps even a bit "holier than thou" in her thoughts. She cannot understand what would lead a person to break the law or struggle with her clearly defined ideas right and wrong. It was interesting to watch her become aware that there is always more to a story than what meets the eye. I guess that's just part of growing up.
I really enjoyed reading Sweet Mercy. It wasn't a fast paced, suck you in kind of story but it was interesting and well put together. It gave me some food for thought and some simple reminders that I should not be too quick to judge another because I probably don't know their story or understand their heart fully.
Enjoy the following excerpt followed by the giveaway! :)
Jones pushed his hat back a notch and looked over his shoulder after the two boats. “The Little Miami meets up with the Ohio River not too far from here,” he said. “That’s probably where they’re headed.”
“Funny that they’re taking a bunch of castor oil down the Ohio River.”
Jones turned again to look at me. I couldn’t see his eyes but somehow I sensed they held amusement. My suspicions were confirmed when he shook his head and laughed. “Castor oil, nothing,” he muttered. “They’re hauling moonshine.”
For a moment I was speechless. I frowned and wondered whether I had heard him right. “Moonshine?”
“Sure. People like them are up and down this river all the time.”
It can’t be, I thought. This was Ohio, after all, birthplace of the Temperance Movement. I knew; I had done the research; I had won first place in the essay contest. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
“Don’t they know moonshine is illegal?”
Jones laughed again, louder this time. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m not kidding, Jones. I can’t believe they’re hauling that stuff right out here in the open. They could be arrested and go to prison. They should be arrested.”
“Yeah? And who’s going to turn them in? You?”
I'm happy to be a part of this blog tour today for Sweet Mercy. I love books that give me a bit of a history lesson without seeming exactly like a history lesson. When I get to learn about parts of history with the fictional elements of characters it really helps me to have an idea of what people must have been thinking and feeling at the time.
Sweet Mercy was a gentle flowing book that followed Eve and her family through a summer never to be forgotten. Eve is pretty idealistic and perhaps even a bit "holier than thou" in her thoughts. She cannot understand what would lead a person to break the law or struggle with her clearly defined ideas right and wrong. It was interesting to watch her become aware that there is always more to a story than what meets the eye. I guess that's just part of growing up.
I really enjoyed reading Sweet Mercy. It wasn't a fast paced, suck you in kind of story but it was interesting and well put together. It gave me some food for thought and some simple reminders that I should not be too quick to judge another because I probably don't know their story or understand their heart fully.
Enjoy the following excerpt followed by the giveaway! :)
Jones pushed his hat back a notch and looked over his shoulder after the two boats. “The Little Miami meets up with the Ohio River not too far from here,” he said. “That’s probably where they’re headed.”
“Funny that they’re taking a bunch of castor oil down the Ohio River.”
Jones turned again to look at me. I couldn’t see his eyes but somehow I sensed they held amusement. My suspicions were confirmed when he shook his head and laughed. “Castor oil, nothing,” he muttered. “They’re hauling moonshine.”
For a moment I was speechless. I frowned and wondered whether I had heard him right. “Moonshine?”
“Sure. People like them are up and down this river all the time.”
It can’t be, I thought. This was Ohio, after all, birthplace of the Temperance Movement. I knew; I had done the research; I had won first place in the essay contest. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
“Don’t they know moonshine is illegal?”
Jones laughed again, louder this time. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m not kidding, Jones. I can’t believe they’re hauling that stuff right out here in the open. They could be arrested and go to prison. They should be arrested.”
“Yeah? And who’s going to turn them in? You?”
Ann Tatlock
Ann Tatlock is the author of the Christy-Award winning novel Promises to Keep. She has also won the Midwest Independent Publishers Association "Book of the Year" in fiction for both All the Way Home and I'll Watch the Moon. Her novel Things We Once Held Dear received a starred review from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly calls her "one of Christian fiction's better wordsmiths, and her lovely prose reminds readers why it is a joy to savor her stories." Ann lives with her husband and daughter in Asheville, North Carolina.
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I really liked this book too. It didn't bother me that it wasn't fast paced either. That's what I enjoyed about it. It was well thought out.
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