Mercy Hill

Description

Imagine for a moment that Louisa May Alcott’s March sisters were contemporary and were being raised on the grounds of an asylum. Their father is also absent since he retires to the basement to work out and no longer engages the sisters in conversation.

The mother, like Marmie in the classic tale, is bent on serving the poor and disenfranchised; only her work is as a psychiatrist within the asylum. The four sisters, like most big families, raise each other and do the best they can in their isolated, unusual existence. As children, their mother was godlike in their esteem. Her belief in their intelligence and abilities fuels them to exchange their childhood for work to skip grades, test at high levels, and fulfill their potential. She has every confidence that they will follow in her footsteps to attend an Ivy League school in order to become a professional. However, as resources become scarce, the girls are made to work at the hospital where they encounter traumatic events that force divergence from their preplanned lives. A very good writer telling an engaging story.