A Mercy unfolds in the 1680s, during the early days of the American slave trade—a time when borders are fluid, allegiances uncertain, and the idea of freedom is as fragile as life itself. Jacob Vaark, an Anglo-Dutch trader in the harsh northern colonies, reluctantly accepts a young enslaved girl as partial payment for a debt. Her name is Florens—literate, perceptive, and yearning for affection after being given up by her mother.
In her new home, Florens seeks love and belonging, from Lina, a wise Native servant woman, and from a mysterious, free black blacksmith who briefly enters her world. But beneath Florens's journey lies a deeper story—one of sacrifice, abandonment, and the impossible choices made by women trying to protect their children in a brutal, unforgiving world.
With lyrical intensity and unflinching honesty, Toni Morrison crafts a haunting meditation on motherhood, identity, and the unseen wounds left by slavery’s earliest imprint.
A National Bestseller. One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.
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