In the 1680s the slave trade was still in its infancy. In the Americas, virulent religious and class division, prejudice and oppression were rife, providing the fertile soil in which slavery and race hatred were carefully planted and took root. Jacob is an Anglo-Dutch trader and adventurer, with a smallholding in the harsh North. Despite his distaste for dealing in 'flesh', he takes a small slave girl, in part payment for a bad debt from a plantation owner in Catholic Maryland. This is Florens, 'with the hands of a slave ...
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In the 1680s the slave trade was still in its infancy. In the Americas, virulent religious and class division, prejudice and oppression were rife, providing the fertile soil in which slavery and race hatred were carefully planted and took root. Jacob is an Anglo-Dutch trader and adventurer, with a smallholding in the harsh North. Despite his distaste for dealing in 'flesh', he takes a small slave girl, in part payment for a bad debt from a plantation owner in Catholic Maryland. This is Florens, 'with the hands of a slave and the feet of a Portuguese lady', who can read and write and might be useful on his farm. Florens is hungry for love, at first from the older servant woman at her new master's house; but later, when she's sixteen, from the handsome blacksmith, an African, never enslaved, who comes riding into their lives...And all of them have stories: Lina, the native American servant, whose tribe was decimated by smallpox; their mistress Rebekka, herself a victim of religious fervour back in England; young Sorrow, daughter of a sea captain who's spent too many years at sea to be quite...normal; and, finally, there's Florens's own mother back home in Maryland. This is their plight - men and women inventing themselves in the wilderness. A Mercy reveals what lies under the surface of slavery, and the opening chapter of the story of sugar, that great maw which was to eat up millions of lives. But at its heart, like Beloved, this is the ambivalent, disturbing story of a mother and a daughter in a violent ad-hoc world - a world where acts of mercy, like everything else, have unforeseen consequences.
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Add this copy of A Mercy to cart. $0.99, very good condition, Sold by More Than Words rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Waltham, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Knopf Publishing Group.
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Very Good. . All orders guaranteed and ship within 24 hours. Your purchase supports More Than Words, a nonprofit job training program for youth, empowering youth to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business.
Add this copy of A Mercy to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by More Than Words rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Waltham, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Knopf Publishing Group.
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Good. . All orders guaranteed and ship within 24 hours. Your purchase supports More Than Words, a nonprofit job training program for youth, empowering youth to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business.
Add this copy of A Mercy to cart. $1.23, fair condition, Sold by Your Online Bookstore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Houston, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Knopf.
Add this copy of A Mercy to cart. $1.35, good condition, Sold by Orion Tech rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Arlington, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by Vintage.
Add this copy of A Mercy to cart. $1.49, good condition, Sold by Hippo Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Toledo, OH, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by Vintage.
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Good. All pages and cover are intact. Possible slightly loose binding, minor highlighting and marginalia, cocked spine or torn dust jacket. Maybe an ex-library copy and not include the accompanying CDs, access codes or other supplemental materials.
Add this copy of A Mercy to cart. $1.49, good condition, Sold by Hippo Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Toledo, OH, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Knopf.
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Seller's Description:
Good. All pages and cover are intact. Possible slightly loose binding, minor highlighting and marginalia, cocked spine or torn dust jacket. Maybe an ex-library copy and not include the accompanying CDs, access codes or other supplemental materials.
Add this copy of A Mercy to cart. $1.49, good condition, Sold by Owls Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Toledo, OH, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by Vintage.
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Good. All pages and cover are intact. Possible slightly loose binding, minor highlighting and marginalia, cocked spine or torn dust jacket. Maybe an ex-library copy and not include the accompanying CDs, access codes or other supplemental materials.
Add this copy of A Mercy to cart. $1.49, good condition, Sold by Owls Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Toledo, OH, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Knopf.
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Good. All pages and cover are intact. Possible slightly loose binding, minor highlighting and marginalia, cocked spine or torn dust jacket. Maybe an ex-library copy and not include the accompanying CDs, access codes or other supplemental materials.
Add this copy of A Mercy to cart. $1.57, good condition, Sold by Good Books Will Follow rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Blue Springs, MO, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Knopf Publishing Group.
Add this copy of A Mercy to cart. $1.57, good condition, Sold by Valleys Books & More rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Roanoke, VA, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by Vintage.
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The edges of the pages have markings, spots, or stains. There is a signature or handwriting on the inside front cover. Shipped to you from Goodwill of the Valleys, Roanoke VA. Thank you for your support!
A Mercy is not given enough attention. An important book and important part of Morrison's body of work.
Maggie1
Dec 29, 2009
a one day read
If you love Morrison, you know it usually takes a while to get through her complex books, but A Mercy is short enough- and simple enough- for an adult with a few hours of free time to read in one day. Morrison captures different characters by using different points of view skillfully and beautifully. A careful reader easily hears each person. If you're a mom, this book will resonate, as several of the women deal with child-related tragedy. I've read Beloved 6 times and loved it more each time, and A Mercy might not be "as good as" Beloved, but it is haunting, harsh, and gorgeous all at the same time.
bev47
Jan 30, 2009
Excellent Book- Very thought provoking yet easy to follow the different storylines. I LOVED the way to weaves in the significance of the title- You really feel the act as truly, A MERCY-
