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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Very heavy
Graphic violence including murder, assault, and the chaos of riots; intense throughout
Language
A lot
Strong language including racial slurs used authentically in context
Sexual Content
Barely any
Nothing explicit
Substance Use
Some
Heavy working-class drinking; alcohol as coping mechanism throughout
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Racial hatred confronted from inside it, maternal grief as moral clarifier, what it takes to see what you've refused to see
What this book is about
During the violent Boston busing crisis of 1974, Mary Pat Fennessy's daughter goes missing the same night a Black teenager is murdered on the T. Mary Pat is a white South Boston woman with ugly views — and Lehane forces her to walk through the worst of her world to find her child. Small Mercies is Lehane's most unsparing novel: a portrait of Irish Catholic working-class Boston in the moment its ugliest assumptions were forced into the open, told through a woman who has to confront what she actually believes.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
graphic violence throughout
authentic period racial slurs used in context
morally complex protagonist with racist views
Reader Verification
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