SMALL MERCIES, by Dennis Lehane (Abacus, $37.99)
Civil rights-era clashes and violent opposition to desegregation may be historically more associated with the American South, but Boston author Dennis Lehane (Mystic River; Gone, Baby, Gone) turns the lens on the hypocrisy and hate of his hometown in his superb new novel.
In the summerto desegregate schools. Mary Pat Fennessey is a lifetime resident of the housing projects of South Boston, a tough widow whose son overdosed after Vietnam and whose second husband left.
