God's Mercy (European Women Writers) - Hardcover

Kerstin Ekman, the author of seventeen widely translated books, lives in rural Sweden. God’s Mercy is the first novel in the “Wolfskin” trilogy, which includes The Last String and Scratchcards. Linda Schenck lives in Göteborg, Sweden, working as a translator and conference interpreter. Her many translations from Swedish include four other novels by Ekman.

“God's Mercy is a story about outsiders. In classic works about the transformation of Sweden written by men, the hero often exclaims: ‘I don't want to be like them.’ Kerstin Ekman’s narrative orbits around the key phrase: ‘They're not really like us.’ The men say it about the women, Hillevi’s aunt says it about the poor, Hillevi says it about the Sami. It is a statement that echoes throughout the blood-drenched history of the twentieth century. They’re not like us, we don’t want them living with us, they shouldn’t live. But who do we mean by ‘us’?”—Dagens Nyheter (Sweden) (Dagens nyheter 2008-10-01)

"Ekman describes everything with an unflinching eye, from tuberculosis to the particulars of sex and birth, and the harsh beauty of the Swedish landscape."—Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly 2009-05-25)

"The story will capture you."—Barbara Ardinger, ForeWord (Barbara Ardinger ForeWord)

"Sense of place is not just a combination of geography and culture, it is a synergy of the two. Swedish author Kerstin Ekman doesn't seek to describe sense of place in her novel God's Mercy. She does something far more difficult. Sense of place so permeates the novel it moves from being a setting to almost its own unspoken character."—Tim Gebhart, BlogCritics.org (Tim Gebhart BlogCritics.org 2009-06-28)

"The writing is gorgeously evocative of a place many of us will never see. . . . Credit is also due to translator Linda Schenck, who ably shifts this exquisite prose into English ."—Diane Leach, PopMatters.com (Diane Leach PopMatters.com 2009-08-21)