Mercy Train
Rae Meadows, 2012
St. Martin's Press
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250009180
Summary
A rich, luminous novel of three remarkable women connected across a century by a family secret and by the fierce brilliance of their love
Samantha’s mother has been dead almost a year when the box arrives on her doorstep. In it, she finds recipe cards, keepsakes, letters—relics of her mother Iris’s past. But as Sam sifts through these family treasures, she uncovers evidence that her grandmother, Violet, had a much more difficult childhood then she could have ever imagined.
And Sam, a struggling new mother herself, begins to see her own burdens in a completely different light. Moving from the tempered calm of contemporary Madison, Wisconsin to the seedy underbelly of early twentieth century New York, we come face to face with a haunting piece of America’s past: From 1854 to 1929 orphan trains from New York transported 150,000 to 200,000 destitute, orphaned or abandoned children across the country to find homes on farms in the Midwest.
Rae Meadows takes us on our own journey of discovery in Mercy Train (originally published as Mothers & Daughters), an affecting and wonderfully woven novel about three generations of motherhood, family, and the surprising sacrifices we make for the people we love. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Rae Meadows is the author of Mercy Train; Calling Out, which received the 2006 Utah Book Award for fiction; and No One Tells Everything, a Poets & Writers Notable Novel. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Wonderful.... A perfect book-club pick…. It will prime conversations about your own choices, which may change your whole sense of self, or at least make you feel not so alone
Minneapolis Star Tribune
A poignant look at three generations struggling with loss and love.
Good Housekeeping
A book you’ll want to sit and read straight through.... It will have you considering your own choices and those of your mother: What has she chosen not to tell you? What happened before you? What do you want to know?
Bookpage
[Mercy Train] showcases Meadow’s ability to create generations of fully formed women as they navigate life-defining moments…This is the story of how much we often don’t know about the people who raise us.
Bookslut
Discussion Questions
1. How much did you know about orphan trains before reading this novel? What touched you most about Violet’s story? Did reading Mercy Train make you want to learn more?
2. We are introduced to Violet as a rambunctious young girl living with an adventurous zeal for life—that is, until she is sent off on the orphan train. In what ways has Violet changed from a little girl to the older woman Iris remembers as her mother? Why do you think she has changed? How has she remained the same?
3. Which mother/daughter relationship resonated most with you? Why?
4. Has there ever been a time in your life when you’ve been forced to make a hard decision regarding a loved one’s health like Sam is? What do you think of the decision she ultimately made?
5. Do you think each of the mothers in this book represents her particular generation? What about them is specific to the environment in which they grew up?
6. Iris tells Sam that women don’t know what they will be like as mothers. Why do you think she tells her this? Do you think this is true? Do women really have no control over the mothers they become?
7. There is a running theme of identity and self throughout the novel. Iris feels that she put up a façade as a mother. Samantha loses her will to create art after having Ella. Is losing one’s identity part of becoming a mother? Do the women in this novel think that motherhood is worth the sacrifice?
8. There are a lot of secrets that are kept by the women in the novel (eg., Violet’s abandonment by her mother; Iris’s trip to the Drake Hotel; Sam’s abortion). Why do you think they keep these secrets—even from those closest to them?
9. Are there any questions that this book brought up that you’ve ever wanted to ask your mother but couldn’t? What are they?
10. Iris’s reading played a big role in this novel. Are there any books that you and your mother or children have connected over? Why?
11. Did reading this novel make you think about your own family history? What memories did it bring up? Did it make you want to learn more about your family’s past?
12. Violet chooses her path and suggests being sent on the orphan train. “She wanted what her mother could never give her.” Do you think she made the right decision? How would her life have been different?
13. How are Violet, Iris, and Sam similar? How are they different? What do you think Ella’s inheritance will be from the family?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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