Harare Review of Books

In news: Marcia Hutchinson’s The Mercy Step was just announced as one of the sixteen books on the longlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction. It’s also been shortlisted for the Discover Prize at the British Book Awards.

The Mercy Step was rejected by fifty publishers (!) before it was acquired by indie (and African) publisher Cassava Republic Press. They’re doing amazing work for African and Afrodiasporic lit.

Here’s what Cassava says about The Mercy Step:

December 1962, Bradford. Mercy is born into a world that feels far too big for her small body — into a home run by an angry, violent father and a devout mother, both Windrush migrants from Jamaica. She craves her mother’s attention, which she must share with the Church and her many siblings, while the whole family live at the whims of their father’s temper.

But Mercy is nothing if not resilient. She finds joy and escapism in books, in learning, in the loyal company of her doll Dolly. She is determined to overcome her upbringing — no matter what it takes.

Raw, tender, and often extremely funny, The Mercy Step is a debut novel informed by the author’s own experience as a child of Windrush generation parents.

Find The Mercy Step at Cassava here.

Find The Mercy Step on Bookshop.org here (CD audio, backorder, affiliate link)