School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-In a story set at the end of World War I, the poverty of her Texas sharecropping family sends 17-year-old Mercy Kaplan away to support herself. Mercy feels worn down by the responsibility of helping her mother care for her younger siblings and is determined to avoid the trap of marriage and the endless work it entails. As she is learning to make her way in the world working for the Bonners, a kind farm couple, the 1918 influenza epidemic strikes, taking their lives. The flu completely wipes out her own family and, in the midst of her grief, she must quickly find work. She takes a position as housekeeper and nanny to the lovely widow Wilder's two young children. But all is not well in this household. While Mercy revels in luxuries she has never before experienced and reluctantly responds to the attention of the elder stepson, disturbing events build to a violent and tragic climax. Marian Hale's powerful story (Holt, 2009) winds its painful, courageous way through unimaginable loss, the strength of love, and in an interesting twist, ends in a gothic mystery. Georgette Perna's soft voice and gentle narration portrays Mercy's sweet, pliant disposition as well as her interior life that reflects the struggles of a spirited young woman who must make her own way in a difficult world while remaining true to herself.-Roxanne Spencer, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Review
At the close of World War I, a Texas sharecropper's daughter painfully learns about loss and suffering when the Spanish Influenza kills those she loves. Seventeen-year-old Mercy wonders how to "break free and make a life for herself without marrying some fool boy" and ending up saddled with four kids like her Mama. When she's forced to work on another farm, Mercy gains strength from Mama's advice to look for heart signs. Likewise, she copes with being the lone flu survivor of her family by heeding Mama's exhortation to think about "the good that might be coming." When she's hired by the Wilder family and falls in love with the two young children and their older stepbrother, she's determined not to end up like Mamauntil she realizes she's just like Mama and must follow her heart. Mercy tells her story in a gentle, cadenced voice filled with youthful hope, simple wisdom and gritty endurance. Perfect similes capture the flavor of Mercy's bittersweet life during the epidemic of 1918. (Fiction. 12-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The daughter of a Texas sharecropper, Mercy Kaplan, 16, is determined to leave home and not be trapped like Mama in household chores and caring for kids. But after Mercy loses her parents and her three siblings in the deadly influenza epidemic of 1918, her new independence comes with overwhelming heartbreak, and she has to find work as a servant in various households. The opening chapters describing the horrors of the epidemic will pull readers, as will the honest specifics about brave, nurturing Mercy's harsh search for a fulfilling life. The dreary details about her daily chores are sometimes overwhelming, as she moves from one family to another, cleaning, cooking, and caring for kids. But there is romance, too, and she tries to resist her attraction to a decent young man. The history of the epidemic and of early feminism creates a dramatic story, and Mercy's personal struggle for independence is universal.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2009 Booklist
