Mercury
Fiction
Celadon books
January 2, 2024
Hardcover/Libby
336
Purchased/Library audio
It’s 1990 and seventeen-year-old Marley West is blazing into the river valley town of Mercury, Pennsylvania. A perpetual loner, she seeks a place at someone’s table and a family of her own. The first thing she sees when she arrives in town is three men standing on a rooftop. Their silhouettes blot out the sun.
The Joseph brothers become Marley’s whole world before she can blink. Soon, she is young wife to one, The One Who Got Away to another, and adopted mother to them all. As their own mother fades away and their roofing business crumbles under the weight of their unwieldy father’s inflated ego, Marley steps in to shepherd these unruly men. Years later, an eerie discovery in the church attic causes old wounds to resurface and suddenly the family’s survival hangs in the balance. With Marley as their light, the Joseph brothers must decide whether they can save the family they’ve always known―or whether together they can build something stronger in its place.
My review:
I love to start the year with a five star read within the first few weeks, and I'm happy to say that I have accomplished that with this book! After reading the synopsis of this one I was hopeful, since it has the buzzwords I gravitate toward. I love a good character driven family story. Bonus points if that family is dysfunctional. I'm not sure that I would say this family was dysfunctional in the way that generally comes across, but I would call them troubled. Either way it worked for me! I loved the way all of the characters were portrayed, particularly the main character Marley. The roofing business at the center of this family almost seemed like another character, with the expectation that the children would take over for their father, like it or not. While the focus is definitely on Marley, we still get plenty of exposure to the parents and three brothers. There is a mystery within the story, but it's not a main plot point. It does add to the narrative, particularly when we as readers are made privy to the details. In the end, this is a story of how family can break you apart, and also bring you back together.
I highly recommend this novel to anyone who likes a character driven family story. It moves along very well and I was engaged throughout, but if you are a reader who needs lots of plot points in your books, this may not work as well for you. It certainly ticked all my boxes!
