#gifted @picadorbooks | If you’re at all interested in witchcraft (which I apparently have been this month, and always!) then you’ll want to keep an eye on one of Picador’s most anticipated titles of 2020. The Mercies is set around the 1620s in Finnmark, Norway after a freak accident kills almost all the men in a remote community, which leads the women to become more independent. All of that changes when an infamous Scottish witch hunter arrives with his terrified Norwegian wife, intent on spreading King James VI’s reign.

I loved learning about the 17th century around Norway - I didn’t know about the Sámi and how they were (and are) discriminated against. Hargrave creates some truly amazing characters here, including Kerstin and Maren, as well as some great baddies, made even more chilling by the fact they are based on real people.

That’s always the case with novels based around witch hunts; real women and men lost their lives and neighbours turned on one another over petty squabbles. I like how the island is not presented as some women-only utopia. Life is hard for them, there are women of all personalities and degrees of faith who clash with one another. But it’s not all dark (alright, it’s mostly dark) - there’s a beautifully written, slow-burning romance throughout the novel which I could not get enough of!

I’m not really one for adaptations but I can see this as a PERFECTLY brooding Netflix series with a great cast and incredible surroundings. This will be a great one to read in winter by the fire, getting lost in the far reaches of the Arctic, completely wrapped up in these women’s lives. My only one complaint is that it slows down a bit too much near the end, but in all honesty that might have just been my restless christmassy mood making me impatient!