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Mercy Audiobook
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Publisher Description
The rich and nuanced story of a moment of fear and abandonment that reverberates across decades and changes the course of many lives, by beloved PEN/Faulkner and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Joan Silber.
In the gritty East Village of 1970s New York, Ivan and his best friend, Eddie, a popular local bartender, are dabbling in drugs following a short tour of Europe. One night, as Ivan experiments with heroin with Eddie, things go horribly wrong. Ivan rushes Eddie to a crowded local emergency room and, believing his friend is about to die, leaves him there.
This one act of abandonment haunts Ivan his entire life. He keeps this secret from his friends and later his family, forever searching for mercy from “the remorse that never dies.” Ivan's decision also ripples across time through an extended community, affecting a host of other people unknowingly connected to that night.
Following a bold cast of characters across decades, and set against the changing social and sexual mores from the 1970s onward, Mercy is Silber's most ambitious and expansive novel yet, proving once again how we are all connected in mysterious and often unknown ways.
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“Together, six narrators create a captivating audiobook production, instilling humanity into a story where listeners might believe there is none left…From the recounted lives of L. J. Ganser’s regretful yet matter-of-fact Ivan to Nan McNamara’s downhearted but resigned Ginger-turned-Astrid and beyond, listeners will learn that a seemingly isolated incident is never as isolated as we believe. These skillfully interwoven performances will encourage listeners to reflect on their own personal histories. Winner of the Earphones Award.”
— Kirkus Audiobook Reviews
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“Helps readers to see that even the most subtle moments can change lives and lead to peace.”
— Los Angeles Times
Awards
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Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize
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Winner of the Earphones Award for Narration
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An Amazon Editors' Pick of Best Fiction
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A Time Magazine Best Book of 2025
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A Kirkus Reviews Pick of Best Books of the Month
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About Joan Silber
Joan Silber is the author of ten books of fiction, including Improvement, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Secrets of Happiness was named a best book of the year by the Washington Post and Kirkus Reviews. Other of her works have been finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award, PEN/Faulkner Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award, and The Story Prize. She lives in New York and has taught at Sarah Lawrence College and in the Warren Wilson MFA degree program.
About the Narrators
Alyssa Bresnahan is a dynamic dancer, actor, and audiobook narrator. She has narrated over two hundred audiobooks, has earned twenty Earphones Awards, and was named one of AudioFile magazine’s Golden Voices. In 2009 she was a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best fiction narration.
Christina Moore is an actress and Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator. As an actress, she is best known for her roles in the television series That ’70s Show, Hawthorne, and 90210. She is a founding member of Bitches Funny, an all-female sketch group that has performed in New York City and Los Angeles.
L. J. Ganser is a multiple Audie Award–winning narrator with over six hundred titles recorded to date. Prized for versatility, his work ranges from preschool books to crime noir thrillers, from astronomical adventures in both science and science fiction, to Arctic Circle high school basketball stories. He lives in New York City with his family and dog, Mars.
Nan McNamara has performed on stage, television, film, and behind the microphone in voice-overs for over twenty years. Her passion is to tell good stories—no matter what the medium. Originally from St. Paul, Nan received a BA cum laude in theater.
Nick Walther is a NYC-based audiobook narrator, voice actor, and stage actor. Nick is a dynamic narrator with a particular knack for crafting compelling first-person narrations and character voices, especially in YA fiction. When he’s not narrating audiobooks, he’s working as a voice actor on cartoons, video games, film dubs, and as an actor for theater projects.
Michael Crouch is an actor based in New York City. His audiobook narration has won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, numerous Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine, and Best of the Year accolades from Booklist, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. He can also be heard on national commercials, cartoons, video games, and the animé series Pokémon XY and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V.