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The 20th anniversary of this lyrical debut novel is both a love letter to New Orleans and a transcendent exploration of the nature of love and how it transcends all barriers—even death.
New Orleans, 1920s. Raziela Nolan is in the throes of a magnificent love affair when she dies in a tragic accident. In an instant, she leaves behind her one true love and her dream of becoming a doctor…but somehow, she still remains. Immediately after her death, Razi chooses to stay between—a realm that exists after life and before whatever lies beyond it.
From this remarkable vantage point, Razi narrates the stories of her lost love, Andrew, and the relationship of Amy and Scott, a couple whose house she haunts almost seventy-five years later. The Mercy of Thin Air entwines these two fateful and redemptive love stories that echo across three generations. From ambitious, forward-thinking Razi, who illegally slips birth control guides into library books; to hip web designer Amy, who begins to fall off the edge of grief; to Eugenia, caught between since the Civil War, the characters in this wondrous novel sing with life. Evoking the power of love, memory, and time, The Mercy of Thin Air culminates in a startling finish that will leave you breathless.
"Filled with vivid descriptions of ... marvelous human sensations that people take for granted and that spirits can only wistfully recall, this is a novel that gets under one's skin." —Library Journal (starred review)
"Through the alchemy of Domingue's rich, lovely prose we are transported back and forth through time." —The Boston Globe
"This is that rarest of first novels -- a truly original voice, and a truly original story." —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of The Tenth Circle
This information about The Mercy of Thin Air was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ronlyn Domingue is the author of The Chronicle of Secret Riven, The Mapmaker's War, and The Mercy of Thin Air, which was published in ten languages. Her essays and short stories have appeared in several print and online publications, including New England Review, Shambhala Sun, and The Nervous Breakdown. Connect with her on RonlynDomingue.com, Facebook, and Twitter.
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