To Love Mercy

by: Frank S. Joseph

Published by: Mid-Atlantic Highlands Publishing

Reviewed by Debra Kiefat

To Love Mercy is a heartfelt story about two boys who grow up in different racial and economic backgrounds, where segregation and ignorance make up the landscape of society. They become the center of a brewing storm between their families.

Written in a very unique narrative style, Frank S. Joseph invites the reader to a neighborhood called Bronzeville during the '40s in Chicago, Illinois. The lives of pre-teens Steve Feinberg and Jessie "Sass" Owens Trimble intersect in a parking lot after a White Sox game, when Sass, his brothers and their friends accost Steve, his father and grandfather for money. What began as taunting in order to distract them and pick their pockets, ends up with Sass knocked out cold with a broken nose and a lost heirloom.

Steve wants to do the right things and comes alone to the hospital to visit Sass. What proceeds is a beautifully written story from a child's perspective on race, money and friendship--and God. The intimate interviews Frank had with black Southerners who migrated to Chicago and those who lived in Bronzeville are reflected in the careful details of the characters.

The lack of punctuations in the story line was disconcerting at first, yet it became freeing as I found myself invited into the private thoughts of Dora, Steve and Sass. There is a reverence about how Frank leads the readers into their personal struggles, fears and anguish. It is obvious his love for them kept the integrity of this novel intact.

I finished the book is four days, reading it every chance I could. I was disappointed when it ended because I felt I was leaving new friends behind.

Armchair Interviews says: For a debut novel this was very well done.