Review: Mercy House by Alena Dillon

Mercy House by Alena Dillon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn stands a century-old row house presided over by renegade, silver-haired Sister Evelyn. Gruff and indomitable on the surface, warm and wry underneath, Evelyn and her fellow sisters makes Mercy House a safe haven for the abused and abandoned.

Through a series of flashbacks, we learn of how Sister Evelyn become a nun, what lead her to open Mercy House and her secret efforts to help the women who land on her doorstep even if it is forbidden by the church.

We also meet the current women residing in the home and the circumstances that lead them there.
The villain is Bishop Hawk. He's there to investigate Mercy House and the nuns. He's looking for any reason to shut them down.

The beginning of the book starts off with a new girl showing up in the middle of the night. As Sister Evelyn moves through the next day to figure out how serious the situation is with the newest arrival you get a first-hand look at how she gets information around the neighborhood. She's a staple of her community. She's a feminist looking out for other women even if it might not be approved by the church. That appealed to my Catholic raised rebellious nature.
I also loved seeing the sisters as regular women who smoked, drank and practiced other methods of healing, like reiki.
The women they helped were colorful and realistic. Their stories made me feel sad and angry for them.
One assault, in particular, left me feeling nauseous.

As I neared the end of the book I wasn't sure where it would end. But overall this was a very good read.

#MercyHouse #NetGalley


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