The Mercy Step

Hutchinson’s debut novel, which was shortlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction, is something of a quiet marvel. The Mercy Step follows Mercy from the womb to age 11, a timeline that sounds modest until you realise how much living the author fits inside it – and it’s impressive how the novel handles heavy themes. Domestic violence, racism, poverty, and the particular loneliness of being a gifted child in a struggling household are all present, yet the prose never buckles under them. What makes this work is Mercy’s inner voice. She’s an unreliable narrator in the most technical sense and the gaps between what she understands and what the reader understands intentionally do a lot of the novel’s heaviest lifting. Few coming-of-age novels make a character feel this alive. This is a story that lingers long after the final page, and I highly recommend it.