The Mercy of Thin Air

Name: The Mercy of Thin Air
Brand: Simon & Schuster Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Ronlyn Domingue
ISBN: 9780743552417

Author: Ronlyn Domingue

Narrator: Rebecca Gayheart

Abridged: 6 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Published: 09/13/2005

Categories: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Ghost, Women

Synopsis

From debut author Ronlyn Domingue comes a stunning, imaginative novel that beautifully captures the nature of love and how it transcends all barriers -- even death.
In 1920s New Orleans, smart and fearless Raziela Nolan is in the throes of a magnificent love affair when she suddenly dies in a tragic accident. Immediately after her death, she chooses to stay between -- a realm that exists after life and before whatever lies beyond it. From this remarkable vantage point, Razi narrates the story of her lost love, as well as the relationship of Amy and Scott, a young couple whose house she haunts seventy years later. Their trials finally compel Razi to slowly unravel the mystery of what happened to her first and only love and to confront a long-hidden secret.
The Mercy of Thin Air entwines love stories that echo across three generations culminating in a startling finish that will leave listeners breathless.

About Ronlyn Domingue

Ronlyn Domingue is the author of The Chronicle of Secret Riven, The Mapmaker’s War, and The Mercy of Thin Air, which was published in ten languages. Her essays and short stories have appeared in several print and online publications, including New England Review, Shambhala Sun, and The Nervous Breakdown. Connect with her on RonlynDomingue.com, Facebook, and Twitter.

About Rebecca Gayheart

Rebecca Gayheart made her Broadway debut in Steel Magnolias, and her LA stage debut in the Tony winning The Last Night of Ballyhoo, (Back Stage West "Garland Award.") Feature films include Urban Legend, Jawbreaker, Shadow Hours, Harvard Man, and Pipe Dream. She starred on television in Wasteland, Beverly Hills 90210 and Earth 2, and has guest starred on Nip/Tuck and Dead Like Me.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Tomi on September 26, 2007

I haven't even finished this book yet and it's already one of my all-time favorites (and that's quite a bold statement for me if you know how much I read). The language in this book is some of the most beautiful I have ever read, next to Gabriel Garcia Marquez - it is lyrical and somehow sparkles on......more

Goodreads review by Grace on December 06, 2007

Razi, the narrator and protagonist of The Mercy of Thin Air, is dead. The story moves back and forth between memories of her life before she drowns in the late 1920s and her observations on the present, over seventy five years later, where she lives "between" life and death. In common parlance, Razi......more

Goodreads review by Melodie on August 18, 2015

Razi( love that name!) a young woman who meets an untimely death, has never been a rule follower. She has bucked the traditional all her young life,studying with the intent of becoming a physician, distributing birth control information to women when it was not just "unnatural" but illegal. A true......more

Goodreads review by Rebecca on September 06, 2011

Most of this book I didn't like. I found it convulted, hard to follow and over-written. However, towards the end when all the pieces start coming together, I liked it better. This is the story of a woman who tragically dies and then is caught in the "in between" world. She can't stop obsessing what......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on June 17, 2014

This was an unexpected gem. I enjoyed the writing and structure of the narrative, but readers who are confused by nonlinear timelines may find this novel a challenge. The characters were well drawn--both male and female. I loved the sensual descriptions--just below my tolerance for overwriting, yet......more

Quotes

"Ronlyn Domingue's debut novel is an ethereal and eternal love story with images so luminous they lift off the paper. The Mercy of Thin Air will haunt you long after the last page is turned."
-- Paula Wall, national bestselling author of The Rock Orchard

"With lucid supple prose, Ronlyn Domingue weaves a gossamer tale suspended between two worlds. Readers will find it difficult to let go of this moving debut by a remarkable talent well on her way to a distinguished career."
-- James Wilcox, author of Heavenly Days

"In The Mercy of Thin Air, Raziela Nolan - a ghost - spins vivid portraits of the world she left, and the world she isn't allowed to join, reminding us that there is the finest of lines between present and past, between life and death, between love and regret. This is that rarest of first novels - a truly original voice, and a truly original story."
--Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Vanishing Acts and My Sister's Keeper

"Like The Lovely Bones, Ronlyn Domingue's own first novel makes the reader feel as if he's died and gone to heaven. The Mercy of Thin Air should enjoy a similarly long and happy life."
--James Gordon Bennett, author of The Moon Stops Here

"Luminous, wise, tender, passionate, and compassionate, this book is special. Razi is a rare character, and her story opens like the petals of a flower. She makes me understand, all over again, the redemptive power of love. One to treasure."
--Posie Graeme-Evans, author of The Exiled

"Debut novelist Domingue weaves a tapestry of lost spirits and misplaced loves."
--Kirkus Reviews

"[An] amazing first novel.... Razi is so enchanting that readers will gladly follow her anywhere. Filled with vivid descriptions of scents, sounds, and marvelous human sensations that people take for granted and that spirits can only wistfully recall, this is a novel that gets under one's skin. Mere mortals can only hope that Domingue has more stories to tell."
--Library Journal (starred review)