Goodness and Mercy

Title: Goodness and Mercy: A World War II Homefront Novel
Author: Patti Hill
Major Themes: Orphans, Orphanages, Colorado, World War II
Synopsis: When her family was about to be split up, Lucy kidnapped her brother and sister and ran with them to Colorado to find refuge with an aunt who didn’t want her.

Goodness and Mercy is one of those books that I read without knowing anything about it when I started. I pretty much picked it out at random from the choices on my Kindle, and liked the cover. Pretty soon I discovered that I liked the story very much, as well.

At eight years old, the twins, Goody and Mercy, were not doing well in the orphanage. Mrs. Nadel, who ran the orphanage, liked Mercy but did not like Goody. Their older sister Lucy knew she had to get the twins out of there before their family was completely broken up—but how could she do that? She was not old enough to care for them legally and knew she would get in trouble for kidnapping if she just took them. Her Aunt Ada way out west in Colorado seemed like their only option. But Aunt Ada had made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with the children. What could Lucy do?

When she ran out of all other options, Lucy headed to Colorado anyway. Aunt Ada informed her that she should be writing to soldiers, as World War II was raging. She did not want to write to random soldiers, so she chose the two she knew personally. A lot of the story is told through these letters, and letters Aunt Ada wrote to her many years later. During that first year in Colorado, Lucy learned a lot about relationships. She learned how to cope with loss, and how to get along with people. When German POWs were sent to work in the peach Orchard, Lucy learned more about trust in God and his love from one of them.

Goodness and Mercy is a very complicated story. There are so many levels to it that it kept me turning pages to find out what happened next. Some things surprised me just as much as they surprised the characters—I sure didn’t see at least one of the things coming! While this won’t make it to the list of my top ten favorites this year, I certainly did enjoy it and it was worth reading.

WARNING: The word heck is used at least 11 times, and dang is used once. 

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