23 Dec 2020
Ep. 13 - The Mercies
Welcome to Historical Frictions, a historical fiction podcast, where we delving into the nitty-gritty of history, fiction, and everything in between, hosted by Hilary, Tess, and Lachlan.
In this episode, we have all read the same book (suggested by Tess): The Mercies, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. It was an incredibly moving book set in the town of Vardø, Norway, in the early 17th century. The event that starts it all, a freak storm in 1617, occurred on Christmas Eve, thus our (tenuous) Christmas tie in! We were all fascinated by different aspects of this history and have different tidbits to share, as well as discussing the story, characters and plot. We were very happy with this choice for our last read of the year, and have plenty to say!
Content warning: We do briefly discuss the depiction of a miscarriage and there are some other heavy topics in the book itself, including the persecution of the indigenous population and trauma of witchcraft trials more broadly, and (marital) sexual abuse, so if you are going to read the book yourself we suggest you have a quick look first to be safe if these seem they might be triggering for you.
Recommended extra reading:
Kiran Millwood Hargrave's blog post (https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/literary/the-mercies-true-story-kiran-millwood-hargrave) on the Pan Macmillan website about the memorial and her research
The Steilneset Memorial (https://www.nasjonaleturistveger.no/en/routes/varanger?attraction=Steilneset) (or we also encourage you to look up more images yourself!)
Article by Naomi Frisby on the Pan Macmillan website, ‘It doesn’t matter what I am, only what they believe I am.’ The Vardø witch trials and the criminalization of female knowledge (https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/literary/the-mercies-criminalization-of-female-knowledge)
Historian (referenced in the ep) Liv Helene Willumsen has a website (http://www.livhelenewillumsen.no/trolldomEngelsk.html) where you can access many of her articles (especially on witchcraft), but we specifically suggest:
Liv Helene Willumsen, article "WITCHCRAFT AGAINST ROYAL DANISH SHIPS IN 1589 AND THE TRANSNATIONAL TRANSFER OF IDEAS" (http://www.livhelenewillumsen.no/res/Witchcraft%20Against.pdf) (2020)
Liv Helene Willumsen's book Witches of the North: Scotland and Finnmark (2013)
Lars Ivar Hansen and Bjørnar Olsen, Hunters in Transition: An Outline of Early Sámi History (2013)
If you have any feedback, email us at historicalfrictionpod@gmail.com
And as always, find us by searching on all the socials.
Thank you all for your support this year, we were so grateful to every listener as we launched and grew this project. We have exciting plans for next year and hope to see you all there. We wish everyone a happy and safe holidays.
Tess, Lachlan, and Hilary would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land they live and work: Kaurna Country (Adelaide Plains) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.
