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If there is hunger, a mother will feed her child and go
hungry herself. If it’s raining, a father will be drenched
while the child stays sheltered. Parents work long hours to
make sure the child has a good education and a sunny future.
And sometimes, a parent will do the unimaginable to save her
child’s life. In the book A Mercy by Toni Morrison,
a girl forever mourns her mother’s decision while those
around her nurse their own griefs.
It is 1690 and Rebekah Vaark is gravely ill. If Mistress
dies, it won’t be good for the farm, or for the three women
servants who live there, too. If Mistress dies of the pox,
Lina fears that she and Sorrow and Florens will be taken by
the Anabaptists. They’ll take the farm, too, and everything
Mistress and Sir worked hard for.
A trader by profession, Jacob Vaark never wanted a farm, but
he was pleasantly surprised when a distant uncle left him a
plot of land. Suddenly wanting roots, Jacob paid for
Rebekah’s passage and married her, straight off the ship
that brought her across the ocean. Soon, babies came but
none of them survived except Patrician, the little girl who
put light in Rebekah’s eyes.
But Patrician was gone, as were the brothers who followed
her in birth and to the grave. And so was Jacob, dead of the
pox. He left his wife an almost-finished mansion, a
tumble-down farm, and three slave women. Jacob never wanted
slaves, but when he was offered first Lina, then Sorrow,
then little Florens in exchange for debt, he knew he could
give them a kind home.
As Mistress lay, delirious, Lina had no choice but to send
Florens out to find the blacksmith who could save Mistress’
life. The blacksmith was a freed-man and Lina knew that he
had coupled with Florens, which was bad. Still, she knew he
could save Mistress, so she sent a love-struck girl to fetch
him.
No matter where he was, Florens was sure she could find the
blacksmith. Wearing Sir’s boots and carrying a wax-sealed
letter from Mistress, Florens set off to bring him to the
farm. She had hopes that they would be together after he
saved Mistress. The blacksmith would never send her away in
the way that her own mother did.
It’s been said about author Toni Morrison’s work that you’ll
either love it or hate it.
I loved it.
A Mercy
is tender and brutal, quiet and urgent, with a cast of
characters that will make you forget you’re reading a novel.
I loved the contemplative Lina, and Rebekah, who seemed to
so resigned. Morrison gives Florens the perfect touch of
“teen-with-attitude”, which made her heartbreaks all the
more painful.
If you’re looking for a short novel that will, at the end,
make you want to turn around and experience it again, get
A Mercy and sacrifice some time. You won’t be sorry.
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