Crooked Heart of Mercy (Livingston)

Book Reviews
Livingston avoids cliché and caricature, and is able to investigate the necessity of belief in all its forms without descending into the didactic. She has a real knack for voice, bouncing back and forth... gracefully and believably. Further her light-handed investigation of religion and its place in our lives – especially in crisis – is wholly refreshing and open-hearted.
Toronto Globe and Mail


In , her stellar fourth novel... Livingston immediately sets up a pressing question: can these lostThe Crooked Heart of Mercy souls overcome their tragedy and, if so, how? Tender, quirky, and sporadically quite comic, her answer is fruitful as well as a delight to follow. Emotional but not sentimental and sharp without being cynical, the story maintains an impressive balance.
Vancouver Sun


Jarring, poignant and laced with a brand of dark humour, the book turns the accidental death of a child into a meditation on grief and recovery. In Livingston’s searing story, recovery, tenuous as it often is, is hard-earned, a glimpse, with no guarantees, of the price to be paid for renewal…. full of surprises; its well-drawn characters, their close-to-the-edge dilemmas, the ways in which they seek an elusive recuperation, are sharply depicted.
London Free Press


Although you will be deeply discomfited, you will also be amply rewarded....Most importantly, by taking often overused and amorphous terms such as ‘forgiveness’ and ‘spirituality’ and bringing them down to earth, Livingston allows Ben and Maggie to come to a stumbling understanding of what it means to survive day to day, transcend terrible trauma, and to eventually regain the capacity to give and receive love.
Toronto Star


The Crooked Heart of Mercy is brave stuff featuring a trio of characters rarely seen or described so well as Ben, his wife Maggie and her drinkin’ brother, a priest named Francis... How each comes to deal (and heal) is the stuff of this indelible novel, one that lingers in the mind long after the last page is turned.
Sun Times


Courageously renegade (and hilarious) ....The Crooked Heart of Mercy is a gem. Much like a big sis who prepares a young’n for the harsh world, Livingston swiftly kicks the legs out from under you, then catches you in her arms.
Washington Independent Review


Forgiveness—and the attendant notions of grace and mercy—are central to the novel, and to the author’s own attitude, which is steeped in empathy for fallen and fallible characters...This, beyond the laughter and the tears, is what seems to be motivating Livingston, both as an author and a human being: the sense of compassion that needs to endure if we are to survive the world’s depredations.
Quill and Quire


Billie Livingston may be Canada's best-kept literary secret. Her books are consistently fascinating, witty, gut-wrenching reads and The Crooked Heart of Mercy just might be her best yet. It brings to life an unforgettable cast of characters... Don't miss it if: You've ever found comfort in the last person you expected.
W Dish


An intricate meditation on grief and forgiveness.... How individuals fail and succeed in their efforts to be caring remains Livingston’s enduring theme.
Georgia Straight


The key to Billie Livingston's fiction is its potent emotional core. She always makes sure you can empathize with her characters, who are often troubled souls searching for personal connection or, in the case of her newest book, reconnection.... Livingston brings these emotional crises to life, never resorting to cliches.... [D]iving into the author’s emotional vortex is a powerful experience.
NOW (Toronto)


From award-winning Canadian novelist Livingston, this is a beautiful and insightful paean to the human spirit and how it can heal.
Booklist


[A]n achingly fragile portrait of two battered and bruised people....[but] Livingston beautifully teases out the bitter humor needed to endure the long shadows of grief. These hearts heal with scar tissue.
Kirkus Reviews