Baring Your Soul Online: Review of Mercy Point by Anna Snoekstra

Baring Your Soul Online: Review of Mercy Point by Anna Snoekstra

Maybe we should meet?

This is the question that changes everything for Mercy Point teenagers Emma, Tessie, Michael, Fabian and Sam. Up until this point they have anonymously bared their souls to one another as part of an online group for adopted children.

Online they share all their personal pain about this discovery and question why their parents haven’t been honest with them about it. This common thread binds them tightly until someone suggests that they all meet.

It’s always a risk to meet online friends and when four of the five members realise that they have been sharing all this with people they go to school with – people they would prefer not to see ever again – their bond is stretched to the limit.

Their otherwise ordinary teenage lives then become more complicated by the minute when they scratch the surface of their suburban lives. Why is there a photo of Michael and Fabian’s parents together even though they claim to not really know each other? Why are they all experiencing problems with their sight and hearing? And why is Fabian’s mother’s signature on some of their birth certificates who is an anaesthetist, when it should have been a doctor.

Coerced by outsider Sam and the strange circumstances, they unite to try to discover who their real parents are and why this is such a closely guarded secret.

After orchestrating a series of meetings and going on many fact-finding expeditions they see the way forward, but Sam is beginning to act strangely and suggest things that will put them all in harm’s way. Is finding out what really happened really worth the risk?

Young adults and their parents as well, will enjoy this fast paced, suspenseful read. Teen friendships, identity and family dynamics are all closely observed in Mercy Point, along with the importance of online communities for teens and the support that they can offer.

You will be riveted until the end, making it a perfect choice for a winter holiday read for readers 14+. And once they’re hooked, then Australian author Anna Snoekstra’s highly acclaimed debut novel Only Daughter, awaits them.

Purchase a copy of Mercy Point | Read an extract

Anna Snoekstra lives in Melbourne, Australia. She recently wrote about writing for The Guardian. She studied creative writing and cinema at Melbourne University, followed by screenwriting at RMIT University. She has made short films and music videos that have been screened internationally and worked as an arts reviewer for the Melbourne Review.

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          Anna Snoekstra
          About the author

          Anna Snoekstra

          Anna Snoekstra was born in Canberra, Australia in 1988. She studied Creative Writing and Cinema at The University of Melbourne, followed by Screenwriting at RMIT University. She currently lives in Melbourne with her husband and tabby cat.

          Books by Anna Snoekstra

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