Mercy by Rebecca Lim

Mercy by Rebecca Lim

In the wake of her 49th birthday Carly has become a broke, divorced empty nester, no longer knowing her place in the glossy suburban bubble where she has carefully constructed a veneered existence. She thought she had left the uncertainty of a chaotic, drug-infused Brooklyn childhood behind her when she married and started a family, but as the life she built collapses with the demise of her marriage, Carly begins to experience a kaleidoscope of memories and emotions, as she continues to deal with the troubles of her family of origin while having to heal herself.

Mercy is the story of a second coming of age, in which our heroine faces her past and gets to the business of being strong on her own, hell bent on side stepping the constant upsets of her dysfunctional family. Her father, a has-been Broadway actor, is attempting to jump start his sagging career by starring in a reality television show while her brother is battling a heroine addiction. Her mother, still angry about her own divorce, has an uncanny ability to create drama of epic proportions wherever she goes.

Follow Carly as she falls in love on her own terms, learns to trust for the first time, experiences a sexual awakening, restarts a career, and attempts to pull off America's ultimate post nuclear family holiday: a hysterical and disastrous Thanksgiving dinner.

Inspired by the tragicomic business of living a life spanning a few decades and two bridges from Brooklyn to the suburbs, Mercy brings the grit of 1970's New York into spectacular collision with our high-gloss era of Houzz, Twitter, and reality TV.

Rebecca Lim is an author, illustrator, editor, and lawyer from Australia. Her works include The Astrologer's Daughter (a Kirkus Best Book of 2015 and CBCA Notable Book for Older Readers), Wraith, and the globally bestselling Mercy. Her work has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards and the INDIES Book of the Year Awards, longlisted for the Gold Inky Award and the David Gemmell Legend Award, and shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards and Davitt Awards many times. Rebecca is a co-founder of the Voices from the Intersection program, which aims to promote rising young adult and children's authors and illustrators who are First Nations, People of Color, LGBTIQA+, or living with a disability, as well as the co-editor of Meet Me at the Intersection, a pioneering anthology of YA #OwnVoice memoir, poetry, and fiction.