Ms. Haigh is an expertly nuanced storyteller long overdue for major attention. Her work is gripping real and totally immersive akin to that of writers as different as Richard Price Richard Ford and Richard Russo.Janet Maslin New York Times The highly anticipated new novel by acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Haigha gifted chronicler of the human condition Washington Post Book Worldis a tense riveting story about the disparate lives that intersect at a womens clinic in Boston. For almost a decade Claudia has counseled patients at Mercy Street a clinic in the heart of the city. The work is consuming the unending dramas of women in crisis. For its patients Mercy Street offers more than health care for many it is a second chance. But outside the clinic the reality is different. Anonymous threats are frequent. A small determined group of antiabortion demonstrators appears each morning at its door. As the protests intensify fear creeps into Claudias days a humming anxiety she manages with frequent visits to Timmy an affable pot dealer in the midst of his own existential crisis. At Timmys she encounters a random assortment of customers including Anthony a lost soul who spends most of his life online chatting with the mysterious Excelsior11the screenname of Victor Prine an antiabortion crusader who has set his sights on Mercy Street and is ready to risk it all for his beliefs. Mercy Street is a novel for right now a story of the polarized American present. Jennifer Haigh an expert natural storyteller with a keen sense of her characters humanity New York Times has written a groundbreaking novel a fearless examination of one of the most divisive issues of our time. show more