MERCY

A teenager and her friends must contend with a family curse.

Mercy Farr lives with her maternal grandfather in Arbor Falls, Vermont, doing her best to be a normal teen. But her life is far from normal: She and her relatives, along with several other families in town, are victims of the Sorrowing, a mysterious curse cast after an act of unimaginable violence decades prior. The Sorrowing ensures that anyone affected is doomed to failure: Those who strive to better their lives face devastating consequences, including illness, injury, and even death. When the Bowen family, whose ancestor “brought the Sorrowing down” on the community, returns to Arbor Falls, Mercy is drawn into their lives through their teenage son, Matteo. But unlike Mercy, Matteo and the other Bowens refuse to believe the Sorrowing exists, and their attempts to forge a new path puts all the cursed families in danger. As tragedy strikes, and the curse seems to tighten its grip, Mercy, Matteo, and their friends are pulled into the town’s dark and tangled history, one the older generations have tried desperately to bury. Early exposition sets the stage for a plot that unfolds slowly at first, effectively building a sense of dread and oppression. By the time this evocatively written story reaches its haunting climax, readers will be fully invested in Mercy and the bleak world of Arbor Falls. Main characters are largely cued white, and Matteo has some Lebanese ancestry.

A deeply atmospheric portrait of generational trauma.