Mercury

New
Paperback
2017
$10.59

A Kirkus Reviews 'Best Fiction of 2016' selection
A Bookpage 'Best Books of 2016' selection
A Barnes and Noble 'Best Books of 2016' selection
A Seattle Times 'Best Books of 2016' selection
'Mercury is as luminous, unforgettable, and perfectly rendered as only Margot Livesey can accomplish.' Dennis Lehane
An optometrist in suburban Boston, Donald is sure that he and his wife, Viv, are both devoted to their two children and each other. Then Mercury - a gorgeous young thoroughbred with a murky past - arrives at Viv's stables, and as she begins to ride him, dreams she had harboured and relinquished for the sake of her family are rekindled; dreams that soon morph into consuming desire.
As her infatuation with the thoroughbred escalates to obsession, it seems there is nothing - and no one - she will allow to stop her this time around.
Though Donald may have 20/20 vision, he is slow to notice how profoundly Viv has changed, and how much these changes threaten their quiet, secure world. But by the time he does, it is too late to stop the catastrophic collision of Viv's determined ambitions ...
'Margot Livesey is a searingly intelligent writer at the height of her powers.' Jennifer Egan

Synopsis

A Kirkus Reviews 'Best Fiction of 2016' selection
A Bookpage 'Best Books of 2016' selection
A Barnes and Noble 'Best Books of 2016' selection
A Seattle Times 'Best Books of 2016' selection

'Mercury is as luminous, unforgettable, and perfectly rendered as only Margot Livesey can accomplish.' Dennis Lehane

An optometrist in suburban Boston, Donald is sure that he and his wife, Viv, are both devoted to their two children and each other. Then Mercury - a gorgeous young thoroughbred with a murky past - arrives at Viv's stables, and as she begins to ride him, dreams she had harboured and relinquished for the sake of her family are rekindled; dreams that soon morph into consuming desire.
As her infatuation with the thoroughbred escalates to obsession, it seems there is nothing - and no one - she will allow to stop her this time around.

Though Donald may have 20/20 vision, he is slow to notice how profoundly Viv has changed, and how much these changes threaten their quiet, secure world. But by the time he does, it is too late to stop the catastrophic collision of Viv's determined ambitions ...

'Margot Livesey is a searingly intelligent writer at the height of her powers.' Jennifer Egan

$10.59

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Publisher: Sceptre
Published: 29 Jun 2017
ISBN 10: 1473657865
ISBN 13: 9781473657861

Media Reviews

Consuming.... Explores themes of honesty and understanding by showing the impact that obsessions-grief, rapacity-can have on a marriage. * The New Yorker *
You'll be glued to the page. * People, Pick of the Week *
A brilliantly paced contemporary adventure. * Elle *
Margot Livesey should be better known. She has a commercial storyteller's talent for sustained suspense and a penchant for the life-changing cruel or criminal act. ... That a gun goes off at a crucial moment ... is not the reason to pick it up. Intricately convincing relationships, and accomplished sentence-making, are. -- Mark Kamine * The Wall Street Journal *
Mercury is a haunting, meticulous inquiry into the nature of blindness-its insidious power to corrupt marital trust, even between those with perfect vision. Margot Livesey is a searingly intelligent writer at the height of her powers. -- Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad
Mercury is as luminous, unforgettable, and perfectly rendered as only Margot Livesey can accomplish. I only wished it were twice as long. -- Dennis Lehane
Mercury demonstrates Tolstoy's dictum: all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way. The Stevensons find themselves upended by a horse - a magnificent horse that sets off a chain of deceit and crime. This powerful novel reveals the fragility of life when tested by the shock of genuine passion. -- Ben Fountain
A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction of 2016 selection
A Bookpage Best Books of 2016 selection
A Barnes and Noble Best Books of 2016 selection
A Seattle Times Best Books of 2016 selection

Author Bio

Margot Livesey is a New York Times bestselling author of eight novels, and her work has appeared in the New Yorker, Vogue, and the Atlantic. She is the recipient of grants from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation and her novel The House on Fortune Street won the 2009 L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award. Born in Scotland, Livesey currently lives in the Boston area and is a professor of fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.