Joan Silber, MERCY: A Novel

Following a bold cast of characters across decades, and set against the changing social and sexual mores from the 1970s onward, Mercy is Silber's most ambitious and expansive novel yet, proving once again how we are all connected in mysterious and often unknown ways.

Joan Silber is the author of ten books of fiction. Her last book, Secrets of Happiness, was a Washington Post and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year and an O Magazine Most Anticipated Book. Her novel, Improvement, was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award. She also received the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. Her book, Fools, was long-listed for the National Book Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Other works include The Size of the World, finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, and Ideas of Heaven, finalist for the National Book Award and The Story Prize. She lives in New York and has taught at Sarah Lawrence College and in the Warren Wilson MFA program.

Fenton Johnson is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction. His most recent book is At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life (W.W. Norton 2020). He teaches at Spalding University, contributes to Harper’s magazine, and has been featured on Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

Host or Publisher Oblong Books