The Mercy Step

FINALIST FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE · ONE OF THE OBSERVER’S BEST DEBUT NOVELISTS · WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS DISCOVER BOOK OF THE YEAR

“A beautiful and tender portrait of what it takes to leave where you’ve come from and forge your own future.”—Cariad Lloyd, 2026 Judge, Women’s Prize for Fiction

A sharply-witted and tender portrait of a young girl’s quiet rebellion, and her refusal to be broken

Bradford, December 1962.

A precocious Mercy makes her reluctant entrance into the world, torn from the warm embrace of her mother’s womb, to a chaotic household that seems to have no place for her. Her siblings do not understand her, her mother’s attention is given to the Church, and the entire family lives at the whims of her father’s quick temper.

Left to herself, Mercy finds solace in books, her imagination, and the quiet comfort of her faithful toy, Dolly. But escapism has its limits, and as the grip of family, faith and fear threatens to close in, Mercy learns she must act if she wants a different future; one where she is seen, heard, and her family set free.