Tiffany Baker

Small towns. Very often in literature small town and the benefits of living in one are extolled to the heavens. Families who had grown up side by side, become connected through marriage, or perhaps business. Small towns. Mercy Snow: A Novel by Tiffany Baker gives us another view of small towns. Perhaps the view through the eyes of this author is more clear than others, or perhaps not. Who can say?

This is a story about the meanness of a small. In this case, it is a particular small town show more called Titan Falls. A town where the people depended on a paper mill for their livelihood. The mill was owned by a single family, a single man. A mean one. Choose any definitive adjective of mean that you like, unkind, stingy, malicious, selfish. Because each town is populated by all to frail humans, with quirks and intentions, there will always be found the good and the bad. Some small towns have more than their share of the bad. The ownership of the paper mill gave Cal power. He and his wife held an almost feudal hold over those who lived there. Titan Falls didn't even have a mayor, they had the mill, and the man who owned it. Eventually the feeling of power convinced him that he was not only right about all things, but in the right, no matter what. And that brings us to what happens to people when when they are oppressed. When they are knocked down, held down and bulldozed.

One night, a bus filled with children rolled along a dangerous road, coming up to a dangerous curve. Something happened that night. The only one who saw it was now dead and buried, her family filled with grief. The town was angry and they needed someone to blame. People always want someone to blame. Often guilt doesn't matter, only the ability to lay blame. So, in the case of this mean little town, they found what they wanted, someone to blame.

It's not easy to be different. It isn't easy to be poor. The more different, the poorer, the more loathsome it feels to be you. If your family has always been poor, always been different, it seems that the years of revilement all pile right on your shoulders. Even if there was never a reason for it in the first place. That is how it was for the Snow family. They fought to survive, they fought to forget, and they still hadn't given up fighting to be accepted. Some things are not to be.

The worst of the worst in that town was a woman. She wasn't evil, or bad. At least not in the beginning, but she had become ugly inside from pretending to be something she wasn't. But June McAllister, the mill owners wife had secrets, many secrets. They had begun to poison her and to eat at her very soul. Rather than fighting the poison, she embraced it. Poor June. Poor Snow family. Poor, ugly little Titan Falls. How could any of this add up to a happy ending?

Life can surprise us sometimes. Even one dim light in the darkness can be what it takes to overcome the dark, and find our way. Maybe there was hope, or at least maybe the one dim light would make enough difference, if only enough to provide hope. Maybe the hope will begin to shine brighter, and carry hope on. I recommend that you give this book a chance. You may be surprised. You definitely want to see the light begin to shine. show less

Truly has had a rough life. She was born huge and her mother died in childbirth. Her beautiful sister gets pregnant by a selfish man named Bob Bob and Truly is left to clean up the mess. She helps raise the troubled boy while putting up with Bob Bob's insults for years. Along the way she discovers the secret of Bob Bob's grandma's herbal remedies and begins to use them to help the people around her.

Truly really grew on me (no pun intended). At first I just wanted her to stand up for herself show more and realize that she had a lot to offer people. But gradually I began to understand her better and see how years of being put down could break a person's spirit. I loved watching her become more comfortable and confident. The book really felt like a celebration of misfits to me. Most of the main characters had something that set them apart from "normal" people. But it was those people that the reader loves the most. Overall a good book, not great, but good. show less

I loved that this book was written from Truly's point of view, using language that evokes a magnificent picture in your mind of her being huge and solid and over-sized. This story almost has a feel of being a fairy tale or folk lore - there is Truly who is considered a giant, the beautiful, beauty queen sister, the witch and her potions, Truly's friend Marcus who is tiny, and the evil Doctor Robert Morgan. The subtlety with which Baker weaves all of these characters in her story and gives show more them all such depth is what makes the story such a joy to read. I was hooked from beginning to end!

Truly is truly bigger than life. She is a legend of sorts in her small town where she hides from their looks, eventually becoming someone they all seek out. This book spoke to me of looking inside of a person and not the outside, of the circle of life and death and how nothing in life is black and white. This is an awesome, wonderful read! show less

It may be destiny, it may be fate, but really, it’s an accident of birth. Some, like the McAllisters, are born to wealth and power, bestowed on them by the family’s paper mill. Others, like the Snows, are destined to lead a hard-scrabble life, living from hand to mouth. When their mother dies and Mercy Snow and her siblings return to Titan Falls, they discover their father is also dead. With nowhere else to go, they take up residence on the father’s land. Scorned and distrusted by the show more townsfolk, Mercy’s brother is blamed for a bus crash that kills a student. June McAllister becomes privy to evidence that might clear him, but it also might implicate someone close to her. Thus begins the connection between the most influential family in town and most despised. But it is not really the beginning of their connection; their history goes back to earlier generations. A well-crafted story, this tale takes as many turns as the river the paper mill is built on. Thought-provoking with in-depth characters, this tale will keep you turning pages, hoping for the best for the Snows, but fearing the worst. The story is gripping and bleak, and well worth reading. show less