Tuesday 6 January 2009

A Look at History

Finished January 5
The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner
This story follows a college student, Lauren Durough (known to her family as Lars), as she discovers the life of a young woman in Salem during the witch trials, and in doing so discovers something about herself as well.
Lauren is the only child of very wealthy parents, and makes small moves to show her independence from what she feels is expected of her. One of those moves is to take a job transcribing the diary of Mercy Hayworth, a young woman convicted of being a witch in Salem during the infamous witch trials. Her employer is Abigail Boyles, also a wealthy woman, who has known Mercy's story since she was a teenager, but never taken its lessons into her own life.
This is a fascinating look at a portion of history that is shameful, as well as looking at how we all judge others to some extent.

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