The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson SIGNED COPY available

We follow our eponymous heroine as she is thrust into a cold and complicated world in Bradford. Mercy grows, a precocious child in a life that seems too much for such a small body. Marcia expertly balances dark themes with humour as she tells Mercy's story.

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2026!

Preorder now for delivery 30 April 2026. Signed copy available from 7th May

Praise for the Mercy Step

'It’s dark, humorous, and passionately captures the unique realities of the northern Black experience. Powerfully told from a child’s vantage point, the storytelling is imaginative and animated, yet piercing in all the right places.'

THE OBSERVER

"WOW this book has stolen my heart!! In the first ten pages, I'd already cried and laughed out loud, and I knew I was in for a hell of a read. I'm a sucker for a complicated mother-daughter story, and this one was heart-wrenching, deeply authentic, moving, a real tear-jerker. "

NUSSAIBAH YOUNIS

"The Mercy Step is a dazzling telling of the world through a child's eyes – utterly compelling, deeply moving, often funny and sometimes shocking, you will cheer Mercy all the way. An unforgettable, triumphant debut from Marcia Hutchinson"

SEAN LUSK

The character of Mercy is hilarious, but her childhood—we could say a West Indian childhood in Britain, that particular form of British upbringing—is drawn with such poignancy, so vividly it reminds me of the stories I’ve heard from my British-West Indian friends. The voice of Mercy as narrator is unforgettable; I think it will never leave me.

JASON ALLEN-PAISANT

'The character of Mercy leaps off the page and I fell in love with her from the start. This novel is heartbreaking  and beautiful and funny at the same time.  It's a powerful and important story by a hugely talented writer.'

DIANE ANYAKWO

'Mercy crackled with all the electricity of a story that simply could not be contained. I stayed up late and devoured it all in one sitting, utterly galvanised.'

RUSS LITTEN

"The Mercy Step is a vivid and important story, told with warmth and verve. Children are so often the unseen and unheard victims of domestic abuse, and Hutchinson speaks into this silence with incredible compassion and authenticity. I laughed, I cried. Mercy's voice will stay with me for a very long time."

ROISIN O'DONNELL

"A moving, funny and perfectly-observed slice of Black British life … has all the hallmarks of a modern classic.”

PATERSON JOSEPH

"A brilliant debut. Both deeply touching and hautning, with a compelling child protganist that's imposible to look away from."

Format:Paperback / softback 288 pages
Publisher:Cassava Republic Press
Imprint:Cassava Republic Press
ISBN:9781918228038
Published:30 Apr 2026
Classifications:Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)