Mercy Read online

  She lifted the sponge. The ring was a little fainter, but it was still there, clear as day. Everyone knew that grape juice stained. Cam knew. How many times had she told him?

  "This is never going to come out," she said, bending to the counter and scrubbing with the scouring side of the sponge. Her hand became raw and her knuckles scraped red.

  She was working so hard to remove the evidence that she didn't hear Cam coming up behind her. He covered her hand, flattening the sponge. Soap oozed between their fingers like a fixative. "Allie," he said calmly, "take it easy. Give me your coat."

  But she couldn't take it easy. She knew she was acting crazy and felt as if she were watching the whole scene from one of the exposed beams overhead. She knew it was not about a grape juice stain, either. And still, there were a hundred questions running through her mind: What if they wanted to sell the house one day? What if she tried Clorox, straight? Why didn't he see that every time she walked into the kitchen her eyes would be drawn to this mark?

  "Allie." Cam pulled her toward him and unzipped her coat and tugged the hat from her hair. He unwound the scarf from her throat. Then he covered her hand with his again. "See?" he said, smiling in a way that reminded her of how, when they were first dating, she had felt a physical loss at not having known him as a child. "There. It's gone."

  She looked down. Somewhere, under their spread hands, was a stain. But as things stood, Cam was right. From this angle it could not be seen.

  She felt the familiar heat of his skin. Yet now she was also aware of how rough Cam's fingertips were against hers, how mismatched the size of their palms.

  Cam turned Allie around to face him. "So," he said, and it was a question.

  But to Allie, the word sounded like a beginning. "So," she answered slowly, and she set them free.

  MERCY

  Jodi Picoult

  A Readers Club Guide

  About This Guide

  The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for discussion for Mercy by Jodi Picoult. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

  Many fine books from Washington Square Press feature Readers Club Guides. For a complete listing, or to read the Guides online, visit https://www.BookClubReader.com

  Questions and Topics for Discussion

  1. To what degree is the title a metaphor for this novel?

  2. Are Jamie's actions justified? What about Cam's? Allies?

  3. Who is the author of the "notes" between the chapters? Whom are these snippets addressing? Did you believe this throughout the book?

  4. Jamie says, "You know it's never fifty-fifty in a marriage. It's always seventy-thirty, or sixty-forty. Someone falls in love first. Someone puts someone else up on a pedestal. Someone works very hard to keep things rolling smoothly; someone else sails along for the ride." Do you agree?

  5. In what ways does Mia's memory of her parents' love influence her relationship with Cam?

  6. Who is the most selfish characrer? The most selfless?

  7. In what ways are Cam and Jamie similar?

  8. How is Cameron MacDonald like his namesake ancestor? How is he different? To what extent does the Scottish history of this clan affect his decisions?

  9. What is the significance of the moments in Mercy that are magical or somewhat unreal?

  10. There is a catch-22 in Mia and Cam's relationship: They have each fallen in love with a person who would no longer exist if they were to run off together. Do you agree or disagree with this statement, and why?

  11. Is there a hero in this book?

  12. What attracts Allie to Jamie? To Cam? What attracts Mia to Cam, and Cam to Mia? Do you believe that we try to find in the people we love parts of our personalities that are lacking?

  13. At the end of chapter 17, Cam "wondered how he had so quickly gone from holding everything he wanted in the palm of his hand to having absolutely nothing at all. He wondered how he could have been so blinded by something shiny and new and elusive that he couldn't at least give equal credit for the strength of something stable, and strong, and his." Do you think his feelings are heartfelt? Do you agree?

  14. Why did Picoult choose to make Jamie a pioneer in virtual reality?

  15. How has Jamie changed by the end of the book?

  16. What will happen to Cam and Allie? To Mia? To Jamie?

  17. Is this novel about love, or loyalty? Are they the same thing?