Mercy Street

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 Haigh--a gifted chronicler of the human condition (Washington Post Book World)--is a tense, riveting story about the disparate lives that intersect at a woman's clinic

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 anti-abortion demonstrators appears each morning at its door. As the protests intensify, fear creeps into Claudia's days, a humming anxiety she manages with frequent visits to Timmy, an affable pot dealer in the midst of his own existential crisis. At Timmy's, she encounters a random assortment of customers, including Anthony, a lost soul who spends most of his life online, chatting with the mysterious Excelsior11--the screenname of Victor Prine, an anti-abortion crusader who has set his sights on Mercy Street and is ready to risk it all to protect the unborn.

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.

Stacey Glemboski is a seasoned voice artist and audiobook narrator of many books in the science fiction and young adult fiction genres.

Jennifer Haigh is the author of the New York Times bestseller Baker Towers, winner of the 2006 L. L. Winship / PEN New England Award; Mrs. Kimble, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction and finalist for the Book Sense Book of the Year; and The Condition. Her fiction has appeared in Granta, Ploughshares, Good Housekeeping, and elsewhere. She lives in the Boston area.