The Shape of Mercy (38 page)

I used to think mercy meant showing kindness to someone who didn’t deserve it, as if only the recipient defined the act. The girl in between has learned that mercy is defined by its giver. Our flaws are obvious, yet we are loved and able to love, if we choose, because there is that bit of the divine still smoldering in us.

Mercy showed us our true selves—the beautiful and the awful, the deep and the shallow, the marvelous and the mortal.

She revealed it all and begged us to take heed.

I thought of Raul as this revelation took hold of me. As Abigail reached for the door, I must have smiled.

Abigail hesitated. Her hand froze over the doorknob and she cocked her head.

“Somethings happened to you. You’re different somehow,” she said. She tightened her other hand on my arm.

Then her brows suddenly knitted together in a weave of surprise and elation.

“You’ve met someone,” she breathed.

Yes.

Behind us, the sea crashed onto waiting rocks below, as it had done for ten thousand years.

1. The Shape of Mercy
   is about three distinct women from vastly different generations: Mercy, Abigail, and Lauren. What do you feel they have in common? What separates them?
   

2. The diary’s pages reveal a time and place of tragic historical significance. What emotions did the diary evoke in you? If you were faced with Mercy’s choices, which would you have chosen? Discuss why.
   

3. Mercy writes about a bird seeking shelter in her barn during the first few weeks of January 1692. What do you think the bird represents for Mercy? Lauren? Abigail?
   

4. Lauren describes Abigail’s library as suffocating, overly decorated, and bursting with books—a room in sharp contrast to the rest of the house. Why do you think this room was like that? Does Lauren’s opinion of the library remain consistent throughout the story?
   

5. When Lauren first meets Raul, she assumes he is a member of the catering staff. Later she assumes he is a rich, upwardly mobile, premed student who cavalierly rolls up the sleeves of two-hundred-dollar Armani shirts. Discuss how you believe we fall into the trap of such assumptions. Think of a personal experience when, based on first impressions, you assumed someone to be different than they actually were.
   

6. Esperanza is convinced Graham wants to have Abigail declared unfit to manage her affairs. Why does she think that? Do you agree?
   

7. Were you satisfied with Tom Kimuras response to Laurens visit and revelations about Abigail? How might Abigail’s life have been different if she had married Tom Kimura? What might have happened to the diary then?
   

8. When Raul takes Lauren up in the plane, she makes the comment, “I’m so small!” He tells her, “It’s not always about you.” What do you think he means in that moment?
   

9. What do you think Lauren does after she graduates from college? What kind of career do you imagine her in?
   

10. John Peter tells Mercy shortly before her arrest that it “is easier to believe ill of someone than good.” Discuss whether you think he is right, and why.
    

11. What do you think of Mercy’s final act of compassion? Did she do the right thing?
    

12. The Shape of Mercy
    is a story about choices, stigma, and preconceived notions. In light of these themes, what did you discover about yourself?
    

I am deeply grateful to …

• My writing colleagues, Susie Larson and Sharon Hinck, for coming alongside to applaud me as Mercy’s story and persona took on flesh, and Brandilyn Collins and James Scott Bell, for advice, direction, and perspective.
  

• An amazingly gifted editorial team at WaterBrook Multnomah, especially Shannon Hill, Jessica Barnes, Laura Wright, and Mick Silva. Your insights sharpened this story’s every page.
  

• My family, particularly my husband, Bob, and my parents, Bill and Judy Horning, for unflagging encouragement.
  

• Chip MacGregor at MacGregor Literary, for affirmation at every turn.
  

• Kindred spirits Kathy Sanders Zufelt, Linda Emmert, and Tanya Siebert, for life support during the hectic cross-country move when this tale took form.
  

• God, the very essence and shape of everything wonderful and good.
  

The Salem witch trials comprise a sad collection of events in American history, events that illustrate what can happen when judgment is cast without knowledge. Though they are a fitting backdrop for
The Shape of Mercy
, this book is foremost a story, not a commentary; a story about three women—all fictional—who wrestle with the concept that we tend to judge people based on notions rather than on truth, and without stopping to consider if we even have the right to judge them at all.

Only a few liberties were taken with the historicity of the witch trials, and these purely for the sake of crafting Mercy Hayworth’s story.

I love hearing from readers and would treasure your thoughts on this book. You are the reason I write.

Carlson, Laurie Winn.
A Fever in Salem—A New Interpretation of the New England Witch Trials.
Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1999.

Francis, Richard.
Judge Sewall’s Apology—The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of an American Conscience.
New York: Harper Collins, 2005.

Fraustino, Lisa Rowe.
I Walk in Dread: The Diary of Deliverance Trembley, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials
New York: Scholastic, 2004.

Gaskill, Malcolm.
Witchfinders.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005.

Hill, Frances.
A Delusion of Satan—The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials.
New York: Da Capo, 1997.

Hill, Frances.
The Salem Witch Trials Reader.
New York: Da Capo, 2000.

Karlsen, Carol F.
The Devil in the Shape of a Woman.
New York: W. W. Norton, 1998.

Warner, John F.
Colonial American Homelife.
New York: Franklin Watts, 1993.

From early school-day projects to becoming editor of a local newspaper in Minnesota, Susan Meissner’s love for writing has been apparent her entire life.
The Shape of Mercy
is her latest novel in a string of books that delve into the deeper issues of life. She is the author of nine novels and lives with her family in San Diego. Find out more about her at
www.susanmeissner.com
.

Visit Susans blog at
http://theshapeofmercy.blogspot.com