Join us for an evening with Marcia Hutchinson, discussing her semi-autobiographical debut novel 'The Mercy Step'.

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2026.

A precocious Mercy makes her reluctant entrance into the world, torn from the warm embrace of her mother’s womb, to a chaotic household that seems to have no place for her.

Her mother’s attention is given to the Church, and the entire family lives at the whims of her father’s quick temper.

Mercy finds solace in books, her imagination, and the quiet comfort of her faithful toy, Dolly. But escapism has its limits, and as the grip of family, faith and fear threatens to close in, Mercy learns she must act if she wants a different future.

For fans of: Kit de Waal, Douglas Stuart, Toni Morrison

‘It’s vanishingly rare to read a novel that has you laughing and crying and learning in equal measure. Marcia Hutchinson’s The Mercy Step is a moving, funny and perfectly observed slice of Black British life that already has all the hallmarks of a modern classic.’ Paterson Joseph

Marcia Hutchinson was born in the UK in 1962 to Windrush generation Jamaican parents. She was the first pupil from her comprehensive school to go to Oxford, where she gained an MA in law.

She worked as a lawyer before founding the educational publishing company Primary Colours, which she ran until 2014.

She was awarded an MBE in 2011 for services to cultural diversity. Moving to Manchester in 2012, she became a community activist and was eventually elected as a Labour councillor in 2021. She is now a full-time writer.

This event is part of Right to Read, a New Writing North programme of events across the North East to celebrate the National Year of Reading in 2026. Visit www.newwritingnorth.com/righttoread to find out more.