Susan Meissner

Lauren breaks from family tradition and accepts a job from Abigail Boyles to transcribe a diary written by Marcy Boyles, allegedly killed during the Salem witch trials, but finds herself affected by the diary more than she expected.

A Novel

The Shape of Mercy

Janet Doré

When I was a young girl, I was inexplicably drawn to the Salem witch trials. I guess a part of me knew that had I lived during those times, I would have been one of the first ones on the scaffolding. It's a scary and unsettling thought and I cannot imagine the hopeless terror that each of the individuals must have felt as their lives were stolen from them by their fellow judgmental and narrow minded neighbors. 

I pulled this book off the shelf at my local library used bookstore and knew that this was a message it was time to go back to this time after all these years. Funny, that I had just been thinking about it a few months prior. I was definitely interested to see how I felt reading about the trials as an adult.

I'm glad I did. Susan Meissner did it serious justice. Not only does she take you back in time inside the mind and heart of a young girl that's appalled at the events going on around here and eventually accused herself, but she weaves the core lesson of this senseless tragedy into modern day life. The characters were real and imperfect, yet likable. I was pulled in...finally. It's been awhile, I guess because of the specific books I've been reading. Susan relieved my concern that something was up with me and reading! I'll be passing this book on to my teenage girl...

The Shape of Mercy A Novel

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