I had never heard of Hope Larson
before stumbling upon the webcomic Salamander Dream (sadly no longer freely
available) online. I was instantly drawn to her artwork, and her extraordinary
talent as a storyteller (of very few words).


Mercury is, by contrast, more
conventional in format and far more ambitious as a narrative. It has two
distinct storylines, separated by a hundred and fifty years but connected by a
mysterious locket. In 1859, in French Hill, Nova Scotia, teenaged Josey meets
and falls for Asa Curry, a charming speculator in search of gold. He owns a
strange locket that he seems strangely obsessive about, and which he claims
helps him find gold.
In 2009, Tara returns to French Hill after a
fire burns down her house. She is living with relatives, struggling to fit in
and focuses her energies in long-distance running. She finds a strange locket
that used to belong to her mother and begins wearing it. The locket seems to
have metal-seeking properties that get her into interesting situations.
Meanwhile, the growing attraction between Asa and Josey makes her parents
uneasy, as they doubt his intentions. Will Tara and Josey find happiness? Will
Asa find gold? And what is the mystery of the locket?
Hope Larson deftly weaves both
stories together. The book moves seamlessly from one to the other and back
again, which made for a very interesting narrative structure. The book is done
entirely in black and white, making for very striking and dramatic
spreads. Mercury is layered and complex –
I find something new either in the art or the narrative with each re-read.
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