A haunting and redemptive novel inspired by the heartbreaking true
events that occurred at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, A
Tangled Mercy examines the horrifying depths of human brutality and our
enduring hope for forgiveness.
After the sudden death of her troubled mother, struggling Harvard grad
student Kate Drayton walks out on her lecture--and her entire New
England life. Haunted by unanswered questions and her own uncertain
future, she flees to Charleston, South Carolina, the place where her
parents met, convinced it holds the key to understanding her fractured
family and saving her career in academia. Kate is determined to unearth
groundbreaking information on a failed 1822 slave revolt--the subject of
her mother's own research.
Nearly two centuries earlier, Tom Russell, a gifted blacksmith and
slave, grappled with a terrible choice: arm the uprising spearheaded by
members of the fiercely independent African Methodist Episcopal Church
or keep his own neck out of the noose and protect the woman he loves.
Kate's attempts to discover what drove her mother's dangerous obsession
with Charleston's tumultuous history are derailed by a horrific massacre
in the very same landmark church. In the unimaginable aftermath, Kate
discovers a family she never knew existed as the city unites with a
powerful message of hope and forgiveness for the world.
