Dust and Mercy — Book Club Guide

Dust and Mercy Historical Literary Fiction — Available August 7, 2026

Set in a 1959 Appalachian valley, Dust and Mercy follows Eli McKinnon, a third-generation farmer whose quiet stewardship of inherited land is disrupted when a boundary dispute and the roadside beating of an itinerant laborer force his tight-knit community into a reckoning.

Discussion Questions

1. When Lester Combs is found beaten on the back road, the community's response reveals the distance between what they profess and what they practice. Where do you see that distance in your own community?
2. Eli's decision to accept Cass Redfield's help fractures the solidarity of Hollow Ridge. Was he right? What would you have done?
3. The novel uses the Good Samaritan parable as its moral backbone. Who is the Samaritan in Dust and Mercy? Who is the priest who passes by?
4. Ruth's mercy is quiet and largely unacknowledged. How does the novel treat the difference between visible and invisible acts of faith?
5. Dale's decision is the most morally contested moment in the book. Did the novel make you sympathize with him? Should it have?
6. How does the Appalachian setting shape the moral choices available to these characters? Would the story work in a different place or time?
7. What does the novel suggest about the difference between community and solidarity?