About this Event
Country Bookshelf is excited to welcome debut novelist Hannah Thurman, author of the new novel MERCY HILL, in conversation with award-winning local author Katherine Reay.
Tickets are not required for this event, but RSVPs are appreciated. Please RSVP by reserving a FREE general admission ticket.
Books can be purchased at the event or preordered in advance on our website or by calling Country Bookshelf at (406) 587-0166 during our regular business hours.
The event at a glance:
- On July 9, please arrive early to secure your seat. Seating is general admission, first come, first served.
- At 6pm, the event will begin. The author will take audience questions following the program.
- After the talk, the author will sign books.
- Can't attend in person? Order signed copies on our website or by calling (406) 587-0166. Signing requests must be placed 24 hours before the event and can only be taken for books we currently have on our shelves.
ABOUT MERCY HILL
A debut family novel about four sisters growing up on the campus of the underfunded state mental hospital where their strong-willed mother serves as head of psychiatry. A richly moving story of sisterhood, loyalty, and mental health in America.
The Cross sisters have lived their entire lives on the sprawling grounds of Mercy Hill, the embattled Raleigh mental hospital run by their formidable mother. Since childhood, JJ, Caro, Mimi, and Denise have been inculcated with their mother's mission: they'll work alongside her to protect Mercy Hill from the fate of other state hospitals across the country, which are being gutted and closed, one by one.
After an incident involving the highest-security ward, Mercy Hill faces greater scrutiny than ever, and Lisa Cross pushes each of her daughters even harder in the name of her mission. As the sisters cross into adulthood, the pressures of their isolated environment and mercurial mother set them on different—and perilous—paths. And as the battle wages on, youngest sister and narrator Denise grapples with the added responsibility that comes from being the last hope for their mother’s dreams.
Set in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with Mercy Hill’s fate hanging in the balance, Denise recounts the transformations that shape and destroy her family, along with the landscape of mental healthcare in the United States. With sharp insight and real humor, debut novelist Hannah Thurman captures the turmoil of growing up, the true meaning of a calling, and the indelible bonds of family.
ABOUT HANNAH THURMAN
Hannah Thurman is a Brooklyn-based writer originally from Raleigh, North Carolina. She was recently named a 2024 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Fiction. The winner of the Florida Review’s 2023 Editor’s Prize for Fiction, her stories have been published in The Iowa Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Brooklyn Rail, and Southern Indiana Review, among others. She has been chosen for residencies at Yaddo, Ragdale, Vermont Studio Center, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. This is her first novel.
ABOUT KATHERINE REAY
Katherine Reay is a national bestselling and award-winning author of twelve novels and one non-fiction work. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Northwestern University, her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Redbook, USA TODAY, The Daily Beast, Criminal Element, and many more. She holds a master’s in marketing from Northwestern University as well. Katherine is also a co-founder and host of the What the Dickens Book Club on Facebook and The 10 Minute Book Talk on Instagram. She is a mother of three and lives in Montana with her husband and their dogs.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Country Bookshelf, 28 West Main Street, Bozeman, United States
USD 0.00
