Beginning to End – Mercy House: Author, Alena Dillon

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Mercy House, Alena Dillon’s debut novel, centers on Sister Evelyn, a fierce, wise-cracking, and ultimately kind-hearted nun who helps run a small Brooklyn shelter for women fleeing from domestic violence. When Bishop Hawkins threatens to close the home, Evelyn fights to save Mercy House and protect its residents, a struggle which forces her to face abuse in her own past.

William Morrow released Mercy House on February 11. For our next Beginning to End, Spine follows Mercy House from author all the way through to publicity and marketing, stopping along the way to talk to Dillon’s agent and editor, as well as the book’s designer. First up, Alena Dillon.

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Smart, smart-ass Sister Evelyn, fierce and kind, sits at the center of Mercy House, Alena Dillon’s debut novel. While readers occasionally leave Evelyn to dip into the stories of the women who come to Mercy House to escape abusive homes, they end up, always, back with the nun. 

Dillon initially envisioned three nuns sharing her book. “It was going to be a story of what calls women to religious life,” she said. “But once I found Evelyn, I just couldn’t leave her.” From three nuns to one, Dillon then dove deep, exploring not only Evelyn’s current battle to protect Mercy House from the aggressive probings of Bishop Hawkins, but also her backstory. “The first few drafts alternated between the present-day story of the investigation and a flashback plot of Evelyn’s young life: childhood, joining the convent, developing as a novice, and then the shift from Vatican I to Vatican II.”

Then Dillon brought in the readers, Jennifer Cinguina and Ioanna Opidee, writers she’d met in Fairfield University’s MFA program. And the readers loved Evelyn, but were less interested in the many details of her past. They did want to hear from the residents of Mercy House, and so Dillon added their stories to the book. 

Readers are a crucial part of Dillon’s writing process. “As a writer, I struggle to re-envision my own work. I rely on feedback. As soon as someone makes a suggestion or points out a weakness, I see it and jump into action. Before then I’m just stumbling blindly through the fog of my own work.” As crucial as early readers to the final shape of Mercy House were those readers who entered the process later: her agent, Nicki Richesin, and her editor, Lucia Macro.

Before landing with Richesin, an agent with Wendy Sherman Associates, Dillon placed several manuscripts with a couple agents, which didn’t pan out. When she was ready to ship Mercy House, she came across Richesin’s name in an article about agents seeking clients. “I thank everything good and holy that I did,” she said. 

The book arrived at Richesin with a strong front game, but the second half of the book, said Dillon, “lost momentum. The ending, especially, was anticlimactic.” Richesin suggested a confrontation, which Dillon wrote up. “It was the fireworks the story desperately needed,” she said.

Big ending in place, Richesin shopped the book around. Lucia Macro, executive editor for William Morrow, bought Mercy House “with the understanding that we’d continue to rework the middle,” Dillon said. “Though the pace picked up with Nicki’s ending, it still dipped in the second third. Lucia is a pro. I’d left Mercy House and the residents behind, and she knew that was a mistake. She suggested a new course, I tweaked it, and together we rerouted that third.”

As Dillon looks towards the book’s final step, entry into the marketplace, she’s grateful for the team that helped the book achieve its final shape. “I’m lucky to have generous, enthusiastic, and wise collaborators,” she said.

Up next: We talk to Dillon’s agent, Nicki Richesin.

Find Alena Dillon online at alenadillon.com and on Twitter @TheAlenaDillon. 

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