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Donald believes he knows all there is to know about seeing. An optometrist in suburban Boston, he is sure that he and his wife, Viv, who runs the local stables, are both devoted to their two children and to each other. Then Mercury—a gorgeous young Thoroughbred with a murky past—arrives at Windy Hill and their world changes.
Everyone at the stables is struck by Mercury’s beauty and prowess, particularly Viv. As she rides him, she begins to dream of competing again, reigniting the ambitions that she pursued, and reluctantly relinquished, as a young woman. Her daydreams soon morph into consuming desire, and her infatuation with the Thoroughbred escalates to obsession.
Donald may have 20/20 vision, but he is slow to notice how profoundly Viv has changed. By the time he does, it is too late to stop the catastrophic collision of Viv’s ambitions and his own myopia.
About the author
Margot Livesey is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Flight of Gemma Hardy, The House on Fortune Street, Banishing Verona, Eva Moves the Furniture, The Missing World, Criminals, and Homework. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, Vogue, and the Atlantic, and she is the recipient of grants from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. The House on Fortune Street won the 2009 L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award. Born in Scotland, Livesey currently lives in the Boston area and is a professor of fiction at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Summary
Donald believes he knows all there is to know about seeing. An optometrist in suburban Boston, he is sure that he and his wife, Viv, who runs the local stables, are both devoted to their two children and to each other. Then Mercury-a gorgeous young Thoroughbred with a murky past-arrives at Windy Hill and their world changes.
Everyone at the stables is struck by Mercury's beauty and prowess, particularly Viv. As she rides him, she begins to dream of competing again, reigniting the ambitions that she pursued, and reluctantly relinquished, as a young woman. Her daydreams soon morph into consuming desire, and her infatuation with the Thoroughbred escalates to obsession.
Donald may have 20/20 vision, but he is slow to notice how profoundly Viv has changed. By the time he does, it is too late to stop the catastrophic collision of Viv's ambitions and his own myopia.
Additional text
“Multi-layered domestic dramas are Margot Livesey’s specialty. In Mercury, she again probes contradictions in human relationships, this time orbiting the often perilous abyss of middle age and casting her gaze on matters of perception in both literal and figurative terms.”
