Thank you NetGalley for this ARC opportunity!

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I was hooked from the very first line. Mercy is haunting, atmospheric, and beautifully written—it pulls you into a world of rain-soaked fields, rising rivers, and smoke-filled nights. But what truly gave me chills was discovering that this story is inspired by real historical events. Emma Woodhouse masterfully brings to life the forgotten case of Mercy Newton, a woman at the center of a murder, a family curse, and a storm of suspicion.

Told with tenderness and tension in equal measure, Mercy blends fact and fiction to uncover the truth behind a story lost for over a century. It’s the kind of book that lingers with you long after you turn the last page.
I was hooked from the very first line. Mercy is haunting, atmospheric, and beautifully written—it pulls you into a world of rain-soaked fields, rising rivers, and smoke-filled nights. But what truly gave me chills was discovering that this story is inspired by real historical events. Emma Woodhouse masterfully brings to life the forgotten case of Mercy Newton, a woman at the center of a murder, a family curse, and a storm of suspicion.

Told with tenderness and tension in equal measure, Mercy blends fact and fiction to uncover the truth behind a story lost for over a century. It’s the kind of book that lingers with you long after you turn the last page.

This Victorian tale has everything.

Murder, a family curse and generations of drama

I loved this true crime read, it is a wonderful read and one that fans of this genre will love.

It is set in the 1800s and every page is filled with brilliant characters, family secrets and jealousy

Mercy is a woman who is tried not only once but twice for the murder of her mother and the trial and mercys life and background is told with relish

Its a fascinating insight into the time and societal issues surrounding the law and legal system. Its fabulous

Emma Woodhouse’ new novel is based on three generations of the Newton family in Bridgnorth, England, in the 1820s. John Newton’s violent murder of his wife, in 1823, perpetuates an accepted family curse: that the Newtons will always either kill themselves or someone else. The author opens this novel in a masterful way, paving the way for everything that happens, even though John’s crime and subsequent hanging don’t feature in the events. Primarily we walk through life with Mercy Newton, an abused child with an alcoholic mother, a young woman desperate to escape her circumstances. And for a while she does – hired on as housekeeper to a grounds man at the Whitmore’s Apley Estate. Years of love and affection follow before tragedy strikes and Mercy is once again alone in a harsh world with none of her problems solved; in fact, they have exponentially increased.
The story is related in 1848, by Thomas Whitmore, MP, who is on the prosecution team and believes Mercy to be guilty of the crimes with which she has been charged. I was hooked all the way through this suspenseful gothic fiction and loved the wide range of characters and the well-drawn 19th-century settings. Mercy, in particular, lives on the page, agreeable, disagreeable, misunderstood, kind and loving, heartless and cruel. Such wide discrepancies could spark credibility issues for readers, but I felt none. This was a fast read as I had to know what happened for Mercy to end up where she does. The tale is tragic and poignant and will be a satisfying read for gothic mystery readers.

"Existing is not enough. I want to live."
So are the imagined thoughts of a real woman - Mercy Newton.
But trying to live with her name becomes a curse that is stunningly explored by the author of this novel based on real lives and the town of Bridgnorth in Shropshire in the mid 1800s.
Often plots based around real testimony in court cases can limit the use of fiction to provide well developed characters but here Mercy, her mother Anne and her daughter Maria become pivotal not only to the curse of the Newtons from murder and suicide but to the problems of alcoholism - many that still trouble society today.
Mercy is the main character but I also felt the narration of Thomas Whitmore MP led us through the background and of course the highly unusual issue of someone being tried 3 times for the same murder - unknown before in British legal history.
The scenery and area was well described and the class divisions highlighted beyond stereotypes.
Overall I was immersed from start to finish and read in one sitting.
Have mercy.......well history says sometimes says it really does happen.

The true story of a woman tried for the same murder…three times!
Practical, level-headed Mercy is determined not to follow in the footsteps of her drunken mother. Mercy works hard and obtains a job as housekeeper to James. They fall in love and then Mercy falls pregnant, but her lover fears his family and…let’s just say things don’t go well for Mercy. Her only option is leaving her newborn daughter with her drunken mother so that she can find another live-in position and send money home. And that’s when the real trouble starts…
Reasons I love this book:
1) It is based in on real people and actual events. The author uncovered the story when reading historic newspaper articles. She painstakingly reconstructed their lives to give an account of how each character got where they did. Oh, and the true events stretch across three generations of family.
2) The story is so intriguing (and did I mention it’s a true story?) A woman who was tried for the same murder, not once, not twice, but three times! And the intrigue…in that the author doesn’t reveal who Mercy murdered until absolutely necessary.
3) The characters and world of the story are wonderfully and evocatively written. I loved every minute of the read because the characters were so real. The knitting together of the relationships between the characters was so skilful and so credible…it had me glued to the page.
4) It sheds light on times that are dead and gone (some would argue for the better.) When there was no welfare state, and people had to earn a living or starve. Against this setting there is nowhere for human nature to hide, and no matter how much they hate themselves for it, the survival decisions made are going to hurt someone.
This was a great book and that special thing, a true 5-star read.

Mercy focuses on Mercy Newton aka Mercy Milner and takes place in the 1800's, a time when moving up classes in society was a dream and women were subjected to acceptable physical abuses. The title and description drew me to this book but the character and her decisions kept me interested. Mercy lives a tough life where money and general comforts are hard to come by and her relationships are strained. This book was an interesting read but not a page turner, I enjoyed reading it slowly over a weeks time.

I will review this book on goodreads once the book is added. Thank you netgalley and cranthorpe millner publishers for this ARC>