Mercy House

January 27, 2020
Dillon’s stirring, fiery debut pits a fearless nun’s full-throated cri de cœur against the abuses of predator priests and domestic violence. In Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Mercy House offers shelter to battered women and girls. A 69-year-old nun named Sister Evelyn (“Evie”) cares for them with two other older nuns, Sister Josephine and Sister Maria. Evie will stop at nothing to protect the sheltered women, and when an abuser shows up at Mercy House with a gun, Evie torches him with flame-lit Lysol. After a surprise visit from Bishop Hawkins, who had sexually assaulted Evie when she was a novitiate in the 1960s, she rightfully fears that he will try to use his authority to shut down Mercy House because of the Lysol incident and other infractions. Evie butts heads with Josephine over her decision to help a rape victim get an abortion, and receives censure from Hawkins for performing Reiki, lamenting how little she can do against a church that has always placed women below priests. Dillon balances her protagonist’s righteous anger with an earnest exploration of Evie’s faith and devotion to justice and community service. This uncompromising story will light up book clubs.

Alena Dillon's debut novel reveals the inequities and injustices wrought by the misuse of power. Stellar performances by an amazing cast peel away layers of pain, abuse, rage, and distrust. Three Catholic nuns in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighborhood run a shelter for women brutalized by the men in their lives. Bishop Hawkins, who believes their work offends Catholic doctrine, is determined to close the house. He butts heads with Sister Evelyn, beautifully portrayed by Dawn Harvey. With her own dark secrets, Evelyn protects the women in her charge as fiercely as a mother tiger. We hear horrific tales from Mei-Li (Catherine Ho), Lucia (Scarlette Hayes), Desir�e (Eboni Flowers), Katrina (Caitlin Kelly) and Esther (Bahni Turpin), and each woman's story is delivered with heartbreaking honesty. Absolutely riveting. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

December 1, 2019
Though Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, is gentrifying, with trendy coffee shops and yoga studios seemingly sprouting up overnight, gang violence and a flourishing drug trade show no signs of abating. At Bed-Stuy's Mercy House, a group of renegade nuns run a home for abused and abandoned women. News of Mercy House's services spread quietly, as Sister Evelyn and her cohort know the troublingly limited options available to young women in Bed-Stuy and hope word of mouth will bring those hoping for a better future to their doorstep. A deeply compassionate story of women supporting others in their deepest time of need, working with and against their own hopes, resources, histories, and prejudices, Dillon's debut novel is heartwarming to its core. With a widely diverse cast of supporting characters, author Dillon brings Bed-Stuy to life. Realistic in scope and pious without being preachy, Mercy House will appeal to fans of Naomi Ragen's The Devil in Jerusalem (2015) and Autumn J. Bright's Lovely (2017).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)