Mercy Street

by Tess Evans

  Epilogue

  Angie applies her lipstick, gives her hair an extra spray and peers more closely into the mirror. The lines are there, all right. And she doesn’t want to know what colour (or lack of it) lurks beneath the black hair dye. She’ll be forty next year. Never thought she’d end up working in a fruit shop – or looking after an old lady and a smelly old mutt. Given half a chance, she’d be on the road again, but with her gran nearly blind . . .

  She finds it hard to believe that Rory is twenty-four – that it’s, what, nearly twenty years since she and George gave her that birthday party. She hugs the memory for a moment. Not many left from that day. Shirl carked it a few years back and she doesn’t know what happened to the Nguyens. They’d have to be dead by now. And Redgum and Bree were killed in that car accident just after Rory started high school. She’s glad she got back to talking to Bree again before she . . . Anyway, that only leaves her and Rory and George.

  George. She’s avoided meeting him all these years. She’s not sure why. Embarrassment, maybe. Then the longer you leave these things . . . It’s time, she tells herself. And they could hardly not invite him to Rory’s graduation, him helping out with uniforms and books and all.

  She slips on her shoes. Killer heels for this special occasion. Who would ever have thought that her daughter would end up a lawyer? Well, beggars can’t be choosers and lawyers are pretty good earners. All in all, she has to admit, the kid’s done well for herself.

  Angie is not reflective by nature. But she’s been thinking a bit about George these last few days. They both did things they shouldn’t have, but they were close for a while there in a funny sort of way. What she’s come to think is that, by taking Rory away, George made sure she’d stick around to see her grow up. It wasn’t his plan, but that’s how it turned out.

  Favour for favour, she thinks, they’re even.

  It’s nearly five, and George is looking alternately at the clock and the door. A light knock. He touches his tie with a trembling hand. Wearing a tie is how he remembers that he’s going out. He sits up straighter in his chair as one of a bewildering number of carers comes in and wheels him to the front room. ‘Thank you, um . . . ?’ It’s on the tip of his tongue.

  ‘Melanie,’ she says in mock outrage. ‘And I thought I was your girl!’

  He’s too polite to tell her that he only ever had two girls. There was a beautiful young woman with copper curls that spread across the pillow beside his. He spends much of his time now reliving their days together. She’s elusive, though. In some way that he can’t quite comprehend, she’s out of reach.

  Then there was the other one. A child with green eyes who called him Poppy George. When she appears in his reveries, he smiles. There was a dog and ice-creams on a stick (the names of both will come to him). There was a birthday party, too, and memories of a caravan holiday. The images of this little girl are sharp at first but suddenly lose shape. He reaches out and cups his hands to capture them, but they fall through his fingers like water.

  Who is this smart young woman in a fancy skirt and jacket who kisses him on the cheek? Chatting brightly, waving to the other young woman whose name he has already forgotten, she wheels him out the door.

  Strapped into a car, George feels the need for polite conversation. ‘It’s very kind of you to take me out,’ he says. ‘You have green eyes just like my little girl’s.’

  The young woman looks across at him. Her voice is soft and her eyes sad. ‘A little girl? With eyes like mine?’

  ‘A daughter. Granddaughter really, I suppose. But yes. I had a child. Just for a little while, mind – but I gave her my best love. And you know . . .’ He struggles for a name. ‘You know, young lady, I’m old and a bit forgetful, but I can guarantee you one thing – I may not have had her for long, but for me, a little while was good enough.’

  Acknowledgements

  The birth of a book requires many midwives. My grateful thanks must go to my agent Gaby Naher for her professionalism and understanding, and my editing team from Harper Collins, Catherine Milne, Jude McGee and Alex Nahlous. Their sensitive but rigorous editing enabled Mercy Street to become the novel I wanted it to be. I am also indebted to Darren Holt for the stunning cover design.

  Thanks, as always, to my first reader, Carolyn Evans and my children, grandchildren, friends and family, who encouraged me along the way.

  Finally, I want to thank most sincerely the readers of my other novels, whose letters and emails sustain me in my efforts. I hope you enjoy reading Mercy Street as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  Reading Group Notes

  The inspiration for Mercy Street

  I began writing after a 23-year career in the TAFE system, the majority of which was working with long-term job seekers, many of whom were the victims of social deprivation or recession. This cohort included early school leavers, women returning to the workforce, indigenous trainees, those with psychiatric and psychological disability, labourers, tradespersons and professionals from age sixteen to sixty-four. What I came to understand in those years was that everyone has a story and that each story matters. So when I’m asked where my ideas come from, I believe that, at bedrock, it was this long immersion in the lives of other people.

  Specific stories come from a trigger that makes me start to think – or ‘wonder’ might be a better word. I wonder what . . . ? or I wonder how . . . ?

  The initial trigger for my first novel, Book of Lost Threads, was an article I read about the issue of identifying sperm donors. The Memory Tree, my second novel, came from the death of an acquaintance at the hands of her mentally ill partner. A story grows from the questions surrounding these triggers. For instance – I wondered what would happen if the adult child of an anonymous sperm donor knocked at his door. Or, how could the family of a mentally ill killer cope with the consequences of his action?

  Three elements came together in the genesis of Mercy Street.

  I tend to eavesdrop on the train – a favourite occupation, sadly less frequent now with everyone playing on their iPhones. One day, I overheard two women loudly discussing the problems they were having with their school-aged children. The problems were typical of normal parents with normal children and the women were just having a normal parental whinge. As they left the carriage, I caught the eye of an elderly man sitting opposite. He shook his head. ‘They don’t know how lucky they are,’ he said wistfully. Had he lost a child? Was he childless? That made me start to think of men I know for whom children are a joy. And so George was born.

  The character of Angie had been waiting in the wings for years. Years ago, my husband and I acted as respite foster carers for young children. During the training, we were told to accept that while some homes might not meet our standards, we must accept that ‘good enough’ is good enough. This stuck with me and I have always wondered where the line might be between good enough and not good enough. Is it rigid and unchanging or something fluid and situational? Angie tests these questions.

  George and Angie came together when she saves him from an assault. This reminded me of my father, who told me that if you save someone’s life, you owe them. I found this theory counter-intuitive as a child, and examined its veracity as the story evolved.

  Of course more questions arise as a story unfolds and it is in the exploration of these questions that the narrative progresses and our understanding of the characters is enriched.

  Questions

  1.George thinks: ‘She (Angie) isn’t what you would call a good mother in the general way of things, but she’s good enough and deserves a break.’ Do you think Angie is a ‘good enough’ mother?

  2.Was George a ‘good enough’ carer? Had Rory stayed with him, could he have continued to be ‘good enough’?

  3.How did George’s life with Penny inform his thinking with regard to Rory?

  4.Were any of the online groups that formed before George’s trial justified? Which one, if any, would you join? If you wanted to get signatures for a group li
ke change.org, before the trial, what would your petition be?

  5.George committed a crime. Should he have been jailed? Is this a case of the end justifying the means?

  6.‘And he hasn’t seen her for well over a year. People mature in that time. He’s an old man, yet since Rory, he has changed. So how much more might a young person be able to grow in understanding? And change as a result of that growth?’ Did George change during the course of the novel? If so, how?

  7.Did Angie grow or change?

  8.How would you describe George’s attitude to Angie? Does it change? Could it ever be called a ‘relationship’?

  9.Who had the greatest influence on George’s life: Pen, Shirl, Redgum or Rory?

  10.Should George have fought to keep Rory? Why did he seem to let her go so easily in the end?

  11.Who was your favourite minor character? Why? What does he or she add to the novel?

  12.‘All love has an element of selfishness.’ Do you agree?

  13.It seems that a number of characters give their ‘best love’ when called upon. Discuss how love, in the broad sense, is demonstrated by action throughout the novel.

  14.Shakespeare tells us that mercy ‘blesses him who gives and him who takes’. Discuss in the context of the novel.

  15.Angie sums up her relationship with George in the following way. ‘Favour for favour [we’re] even.’ Do you agree?

  About the Author

  TESS EVANS is a Melbourne writer who worked in the TAFE system for many years, chiefly in programs for unemployed workers, where she met people of all ages and backgrounds. It was there that she came to understand that everyone has a story. Tess began writing in 2006 and has won prizes for short stories and poetry. Her first novel, the bestselling Book of Lost Threads, was published in 2010 and was short-listed for the 2011 Indie Book Awards, long-listed for the 2012 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and listed in the Victorian State Library Summer Read program for 2010–2011. Tess’s second novel, The Memory Tree, was published in 2012 and nominated for the Nita B Kibble Award. She lives with her husband in Melbourne and has three children and four grandchildren.

  Praise for Tess Evans

  ‘highly engaging and compassionate’ – The Age

  ‘told with skilful flashbacks and a warm understanding of hopes, dreams and kindness’ – Woman’s Day

  ‘tender, original, compassionate . . . highly recommended’ – Herald-Sun

  ‘storytelling at its most adept’ – Canberra Times

  ‘a subtly mesmerising narrative that will charm and captivate the reader’ – Toowoomba Chronicle

  ‘wonderfully written, creating a complexity and sense of place that makes the journey towards redemption an enjoyable one’ – Bookseller and Publisher

  ‘poignant, emotive and insightful. Highly recommended’ – Write Note Reviews

  ‘Wonderfully written . . . insightful’ – Book’d Out

  Also by Tess Evans

  Book of Lost Threads

  The Memory Tree

  Copyright

  Fourth Estate

  An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

  First published in Australia in 2016

  by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited

  ABN 36 009 913 517

  harpercollins.com.au

  Copyright © Tess Evans 2016

  The right of Tess Evans to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.

  This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  HarperCollinsPublishers

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  1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF, United Kingdom

  2 Bloor Street East, 20th floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8, Canada

  195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007, USA

  ISBN: 978 1 4607 5104 6 (paperback)

  ISBN: 978 1 4607 0567 4 (ebook)

  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

  Evans, Tess, author.

  Mercy Street / Tess Evans.

  Abandoned children – Fiction.

  Child rearing – Fiction.

  – Families – Fiction.

  A823.4

  Cover design by Darren Holt, HarperCollins Design Studio

  Cover images: girl silhouette based on photo by BLOOM image/Getty Images; house and fence by Darren Holt; all other images by shutterstock.com