Mercy House by Alena Dillon

Lebanon County spoke and chose Mercy House by Alena Dillon as the 2022 Lebanon County Reads selection. I am personally grateful to all the voters who voted for this book. I would not have read it (it’s much heavier than books I usually choose) if you had not selected it and that would be an absolute shame.

Before reading, find a friend or neighbor or recruit your book club to read along with you. This is definitely a book you will want to mull over and talk about after completing. Do NOT read these questions before you read the book (there are spoilers!), but I found a good list of book discussion questions here: https://www.readinggroupguides.com/reviews/mercy-house/guide.

Now, to talk a bit about this novel…

Sister Evelyn and two other nuns run Mercy House, a refuge for women, in Brooklyn in 2010. They opened Mercy House twenty-six years ago and have helped countless women. They are also pillars in their community, knowing everyone and helping anyone they possibly can help. Then, the sisters get word Bishop Hawkins is coming as part of his travels during the “nunquisition.” Sister Evelyn is forced to confront some dark parts of her past as he arrives and begins his investigation into Mercy House.

Most of this story is told from Sister Evelyn’s perspective. We do get a few chapters from the perspectives of the women being served by Mercy House. These chapters really added to the story as you were able to feel the impact of the sisters, their mission and their relationships.

There are absolutely difficult parts to read in this story. The women of Mercy House, and even Sister Evelyn, have endured so much and it’s heartbreaking to read their stories. However, it was also important to read their stories. Before reading this book, I had never heard of the nunquisition, but that was a really interesting part too that led me down a Google rabbit-hole of research.

Grab a copy (or borrow the eBook through Libby) and join Lebanon County as we read Mercy House!

Check out Mercy House by Alena Dillon at the Library (https://catalog.lclibs.org/polaris/search/title.aspx…).