by Lori Benton
I’ve long been partial to this brief epistle in which Paul seeks mercy for Onesimus. A few years ago, with it stirring around in my mind, it occurred to me that the situation these three men find themselves in might well translate to an eighteenth-century setting. All the necessary elements were present during this time in colonial North American history: masters and slaves, captivity and chains, indentured servitude, itinerate ministers, and more than one Great Awakening of Christian faith. I wondered, could I write an eighteenth-century frontier story of the type readers have come to expect from me but with a twist—a foundation of story elements lifted from Paul’s letter to Philemon?
As my mind began firing off possibilities, and characters started popping up, one thing quickly became obvious. This wouldn’t be a strict “retelling” of the biblical account; already I felt the story pressing for room to expand. During the writing of The King’s Mercy, I would eventually graft in quite a few elements the book of Philemon doesn’t include. Among these are a number of secondary characters and subplots involving them, a female protagonist with her own story arc, and a central romance involving her, and (to me) the most disturbing antagonist I’ve yet written. Instead of a retelling, this would be a novel “inspired by” the story of Philemon, Onesimus, and Paul, where the main elements of the apostle’s letter to his friend, on behalf of Onesimus, his repentant son in the faith, remain traceable in The King’s Mercy, if perhaps not at first glance.
As always, I received help and input in researching and writing this story. Much of that input came from books: Culloden by John Prebble and This Remote Part of the World by Bradford J. Wood being two most helpful volumes on the decade of the 1740s, the former on the Jacobite Rising in Scotland, the latter Colonial North Carolina—but I must also mention two individuals. My thanks to Iain MacKinnon, talented musician and teacher on the Isle of Lewis, for his aid with the Gaelic that appears in this book (any errors or deviations made over successive edits of the manuscript are mine alone), and for vetting appropriate eighteenth-century Scottish character names with me before I finally settled on Alex. And Betsy Pittman, resident genealogist, Burke County, North Carolina, whom I first met while writing The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn. Thank you again, Betsy, for answering in detail my questions on obscure eighteenth-century legal situations!
And as always, thank you, Wendy Lawton, for your unfailing encouragement when my confidence flags; and Shannon Marchese, for your eagle eye across these pages. I still don’t know how you do it, taking the story I’ve managed to produce, finding all its weak points, and nudging it closer to what I always meant it to be. I’m pretty sure by now you are a mind reader.
Jon Courson, mentioned in the dedication to this book, is a gifted and faithful teacher of God’s Word. For any reader who, like Joanna Carey, hungers and thirsts for more of God’s Word, taught in a practical, applicable style, you can find Pastor Jon’s teachings from the entire Bible, Genesis to Revelation, online at www.joncourson.com.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…
—Colossians 3:16
Readers Guide
Joanna Carey bears a burden from which she longs to be free. What is the source, or sources, of this burden? Do you think it’s partly self-inflicted? Why? At what point in the story are Joanna’s chains broken? What factors lead to her release?
After imprisonment and exile, Alex MacKinnon believes he will navigate life best by looking out for himself alone. This causes him both inner and outer conflict. How has this belief changed by the end of the story? Who or what were the greatest influences in this change?
A plantation mistress and a warrior-turned-blacksmith seem an unlikely pairing, yet as they grow acquainted, Joanna and Alex each discover strengths in the other they lack and admire. What are these strengths? Do you agree with Joanna that Alex truly understood her, even before his change of heart and return? Why or why not?
Alex has the gift of empowering others with a sense of self-worth and purpose. At what point, or points, does he operate in this gifting despite his will to the contrary? Which characters does he attempt to empower in this way? Does it make a difference in their lives?
A number of secondary characters experience their own emotional journeys in The King’s Mercy. Which of them do you find most engaging? Why does that character resonate with you? What one character might you like to know more about?
The relationship between Phineas Reeves and Demas, the slave he helped to freedom, is darkly codependent, complicated, and discomfiting. When did you first suspect Reeves was behind most of the tragedies that befell the Careys? Did Demas’s final actions in the story surprise you?
While The King’s Mercy has a clear antagonist, the main setting, Severn Plantation, is also a force set against Joanna’s goals. While chattel slavery is a deplorable institution, does the setting of Severn contain any positive aspects? Of the three regions of North Carolina the characters inhabit—low country (Severn), Piedmont (Mountain Laurel), and mountains (Crooked Branch’s town)—which is your favorite setting? What in particular about it appeals to you?
The theme of mercy is explored in this story. Which characters need mercy? Which characters show it? Which characters deny it to another or refuse to receive it themselves? How might their stories have played out differently had they chosen otherwise?
Suffering, and an individual’s response to it, is another theme explored. Each of the story’s main characters—Joanna, Alex, Elijah, Edmund Carey, Reverend Pauling, Jemma, Marigold, Demas, and Phineas Reeves—experience suffering, but their responses to it are vastly different. With whose response do you most identify? Why?
Miracles play a part in Reverend Pauling’s sharing of the gospel among the Cherokees. Alex’s faltering belief in the Almighty is restored, in part, through witnessing these miracles, to a place where he is ready to yield his will to God in faith. Joanna holds to her faith despite the apparent lack of miracles during the same season in her life. Which of them do you think had the most difficult path through this story, in terms of their relationship with God?
“Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress” (Psalm 4:1). Joanna’s vision for her life looks very different from the one she’s living, and she reaches the point of believing it impossible to realize. Through loss and tragedy her vision eventually comes to pass. Have you experienced a new beginning born from the ashes of something ending, or have you had a prayer answered as a result of difficult circumstances?
Readers may have detected a familiar framework to this story (see the author’s notes). Do some story elements and characters in The King’s Mercy strike you as familiar? If so, from where?
Glossary
GAELIC
tapadh leibh—thank you
Cobhair orm! Na gabh air falbh—Help me! Don’t go.
mo nighean—my girl
Air do shocair…Sin thu, a laochain—Take it easy…Enough, my good fellow/little hero
sgian dubh—a small, single-edged knife
Tha mi fada nar comain—I am greatly indebted to you
SCOTS
wheest—hush; be quiet
loundering—a severe beating
bairn—a small child or infant
stramash—a disturbance; a tumult
thrangity—a press of work; the state of being busy
wearit—weary
braw—handsome; worthy; excellent
gang—go
CHEROKEE
S’gi—thank you
Hawa—you’re welcome
Ghigau—Beloved Woman
Aniyunwiya—The Real People; the Cherokees
Tsalagi—the Cherokee language
Uwoduhi—a thing of beauty
ing's Mercy