The Quality of Mercy
About this ebook
In the autumn of 1924, Anna Ulmann arrives in Hot Springs, North Carolina, hoping to be reunited with her former lover, Stephen Robbins. In returning to Hot Springs, she is gambling on the power of forgiveness to somehow reknit the relationship they lost due to her betrayal in New York four years earlier.
However, Anna is not the only one from the war years who returns to Hot Springs. Four mysterious German men also arrive on the passenger train, including the enigmatic Siegfried Sonnach, Stephen’s former nemesis. The Germans claim they have come back for a reunion, but their true motives remain ambiguous.
When a series of appalling crimes begin to occur in Hot Springs, Stephen begins to wonder if this reunion is hiding something much darker. With a monster roaming the streets and Anna’s reappearance forcing him to confront difficult emotions, Stephen must discover if forgiveness is enough to overcome the effects of past mistakes and present violence. Ultimately, what is the true quality of mercy?
Content Warning: This book includes descriptions of sexual assault (off-page). Please read with care.
Want more Stephen Robbins? Read more of his story in A Short Time to Stay Here, My Mistress’ Eyes are Raven Black, and The Devil Hath a Pleasing Shape.
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About the author
Terry Roberts is the celebrated author of A Short Time to Stay Here, That Bright Land, The Holy Ghost Speakeasy and Revival, My Mistress’ Eyes are Raven Black, The Sky Club, The Devil Hath a Pleasing Shape, and In the Fullness of Time. Roberts is a lifelong teacher and educational reformer as well as an award-winning novelist. He is a native of the mountains of Western North Carolina whose ancestors include six generations of mountain farmers, as well as the bootleggers and preachers who appear in his novels. He was raised close by his grandmother, Belva Anderson Roberts, who was born in 1888 and passed to him the magic of the past along with the grit and humor of mountain storytelling.
