Mercy

"Joan Silber is one of America’s most underappreciated literary treasures, and she just keeps getting better. Her latest novel follows Ivan, who in 1970s New York experiments with heroin with a friend and then abandons him in a hospital. Silber recounts the fallout from Ivan’s decision with compassion and clearheadedness and explores the themes of friendship and forgiveness with the self-assuredness of a master storyteller – which she undoubtedly is."