He sees evil in the workings of the storm, in the women wearing trousers, and in the non-Christian villagers, the native Sami who believe in wind weaving and other pagan “magics.” A Commissioner of the church - known for his zealousness for witch trials - arrives. Their existence already hard-scrabble, Vardo’s women must band together to survive, and while they feed themselves by heroically going to sea to fish in the men’s place, the outside world in the form of religious authorities only punishes them further. The result of this tragedy in such a harsh and barren climate is an atmosphere of persecution and unearthly danger. “But never so many,” says Gerda Folnsdatter. “There have been wrecks before,” says Kristen. They take up three of the kirke’s seven rows. The women sit in their usual pews, hollows left between where husbands and sons sat, but Kristen orders them forwards. There were once fifty-three men, and now they have but thirteen left: two babes in arms, three elders, and the rest boys too small for the boats. Toril Knudsdatter lights the candles, every one, until the room blazes so bright it stings Maren’s eyes. It isn’t until they are all gathered in the kirke that Maren understands: nearly all of their men are dead. That fleet included almost all of the village’s menfolk.
The storm, which is a matter of historical record, wiped out the entire Vardo fishing fleet, which had been out chasing a whale. Though I’m an avid fan of the genre, I rarely find historical fiction as artful, tensely paced and gripping as is this tale of the small village of Vardo in the aftermath of an epic storm. Set on an unforgiving island in Finmark, Norway, The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a chilling feminist thriller that happens to also be well-researched historical fiction, based on the real-life witch trials of 1621.
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