The Mercy of the Sky: The Story of a Tornado

(Paperback)

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Description

In 2013, one of the worst tornados on record landed a direct hit on the small town of Moore, Oklahoma, destroying a primary school as children cowered inside. Oklahoma native Holly Bailey grew up dreaming of becoming a storm chaser. Instead, she became Newsweek's youngest ever White House correspondent. When Moore was hit, Bailey went back as a journalist and a hometown girl, speaking to those most affected by the tornado. In The Mercy of the Sky is the dramatic, page-turning story about a town that must survive the elements - or die.

Reviews

Praise for The Mercy of the Sky

Bailey ramps up the tension with a skilled hand, following the tornados path through town until residents emerge from the wreckage to a landscape they no longer recognized. Her artistry will leave more than a few readers gasping for breath.
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Nail-biting chronology drives the plot. . . . Baileys prose vividly evokes the tornados power and menace. Storm chasers will find thrills in this tale of natures wrath.
Kirkus Reviews

The book is excellentwell-researched, well-told, with a strong narrative that reads like a disaster novel . . . Its difficult to imagine that anyone other than an Okie could tell the story so confidently and so well. The Oklahoman

Holly Baileys The Mercy of the Sky is a gripping, heartbreaking, and heartwarming account of the monster tornado that ravaged Moore, Oklahoma, in 2013. It will leave you emotionally drained but glad you journeyed into the heart of this extraordinary storm with Bailey as your guide.
Daniel James Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat

I read The Mercy of the Sky with absolute fascination. This gripping book tells the story of one resilient Oklahoma town and the immense killer tornadoes that ripped through it. Holly Bailey brings together riveting science, human drama, courage, tragedy, and redemption to create a quintessential American story. Powerful and moving.
Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of The Monster of Florence

Holly Baileys riveting writing brings you to the center of the stormand its terrifying. She makes you feel a communitys lossand its devastating. And she brings you inside peoples lives as they healand it is inspiring. Bailey is a brilliant storyteller who is no outsider to Moore. Shes a hometown girl with a keen sense for Oklahomas character and resilience. You feel that on every page.
David Greene, host of NPRs Morning Edition, author of Midnight in Siberia

Holly Bailey makes you feel the wrath of a killer tornado. She makes you taste it, smell it, and hear it. No one who reads The Mercy of the Sky will ever be able to unfeelingly brush past headlines about funnel clouds reaching from the sky to spread destruction again.
Tom Shroder, author of Fire on the Horizon: The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster

Author Bio

Holly Bailey is a correspondent for Yahoo News and was Newsweek's White House correspondent. An Oklahoma City native, she now lives in Brooklyn, New York.