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ABOUT THE BOOK

Set along Arron Brook in northeastern New Brunswick, and spanning five decades, Mercy Among the Children is a tale of one man's pact with God and its profound impact on his family's destiny. At the age of twelve, Sydney Henderson pushes his friend Connie Devlin from the church roof. Looking down on Connie's motionless body, Sydney believes he is dead. 'Let Connie live and I will never harm another soul', Sydney vows to God. At that moment, Connie stands up, wipes his bloody nose, and with a laugh, walks away. In the years that follow, the self-educated, brilliant and now almost pathologically gentle Sydney holds true to his promise. Yet others in the small rural community regard Sydney's pacifism as an opportunity to exploit and torment the vulnerable Hendersons. Raised on the books his father has long collected, Sydney's eldest son Lyle shares a deep respect for the power of words. But forced to witness the persecution of those he loves, Lyle turns his back on God and literature and adopts a more aggressive strategy for the protection of his family. Caught between him and Sydney, Lyle's mother, Elly Henderson, remains unflinching in her devotion to them both, as do his albino sister, Autumn, and his beatific brother, Percy. Mercy Among the Children explores how humanity faces inhumanity, how lies and disappointments cannot and will never destroy truth and human greatness.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Adams Richards is an award-winning author of both fiction and non-fiction. His meditation on the joys of fly-fishing, Lines on the Water, won the Governor General's Award in 1998. As a novelist his is best known for his Miramichi trilogy: Nights Below Station Street, winner of the Governer General's Award, Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace, winner of the Canadian Authors Association Award and For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down, winner of the Thomas Raddall Award. He is also the author of The Bay of Love and Sorrows.

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