Awakening Mercy by Angela Benson

First published: 2000

Genre: Novel

Subgenre: Romance

Core issues: African Americans; faith; forgiveness; healing; love; prayer; responsibility

Principal characters

• Cecelia “CeCe” Williams, the protagonist
• Nathaniel “Nate” Richardson, the director of Genesis House
• Gertrude “B. B.” Brinson, CeCe’s mentor
• David Williams, CeCe’s son
• Shay Taylor, a founder of Genesis House
• Anna Mae Wilson, a staff member at Genesis House
• Marvin Taylor, a founder of Genesis House
• Stuart Solomon, a judge

Overview

In love with her hometown boyfriend, Eric Bradshaw, twenty-one-year-old Spelman College senior Cecelia (CeCe) Williams is devastated when he rejects her to marry another woman, Yolanda, despite CeCe’s having told him she is pregnant with his child. Five years later, CeCe is working as an accountant in Atlanta, Georgia, living with her son, David, and former Spelman dorm adviser, sixty-five-year-old Gertrude (B. B.) Brinson, who is CeCe’s closest friend and spiritual mentor. CeCe also sells real estate to earn extra income. Unsure of most men’s intentions, she rarely dates.

When CeCe is summoned to court regarding more than forty unpaid parking tickets, Judge Stuart Solomon, who believes in social accountability, assigns her 150 hours of community service at Genesis House, a Christian-oriented service, in downtown Atlanta. Canceling real estate tours on a Saturday afternoon, CeCe is annoyed when the Genesis House director does not show up for their appointment to discuss how she will complete her hours. CeCe arrives at their rescheduled meeting, expecting to dislike the director. Thirty-three-year-old Nathaniel (Nate) Richardson regrets having missed CeCe the previous Saturday; their meeting had coincided with his ex-wife Naomi’s wedding, which had distressed him. He feels like a failure because Naomi left him and their marriage.

Nate apologizes to CeCe and suggests she count eight hours of her service for Saturday. He tells her that Judge Solomon is his friend and admires the social work done at Genesis House. Nate explains the purpose of Genesis House, revealing that a couple, Marvin and Shay Taylor, grief-stricken when their young son was killed several years earlier, established the center to assist people living in Atlanta’s inner-city Robinwood community. Nate describes the needs of those residents, suggesting that CeCe could plan teen pregnancy or unemployment programs. She offers to help people learn job-hunting skills.

At home, CeCe contemplates how she will manage her time and complete her remaining 142 hours of community service. Sorting through her mail, CeCe impulsively rips up a letter from David’s paternal grandparents, the Bradshaws, and throws away the pieces unread, despite B. B.’s urging CeCe to consider the Bradshaws’ feelings. CeCe defends her decision to refuse the Bradshaws access to their grandson because they negatively reacted to news of her pregnancy.

During the next weeks, CeCe forms friendships with Shay Taylor and Anna Mae Wilson at Genesis House, developing employment workshops. CeCe and Nate tentatively begin a romance. She divulges information about Eric while visiting a spot where Nate likes to pray in Stone Mountain Park. Nate takes David to youth baseball games and is nurturing toward him, even buying a toddler car seat for his car. CeCe and David begin to worship at Nate’s church. Nate sits with CeCe on her porch swing most evenings after eating dinner. They confide their fears to each other and speak frankly regarding intimacy and marriage, agreeing to proceed cautiously and not rush physical expectations. Nate hopes to sustain his relationship with CeCe and marry her, buying an engagement ring, which he hides, waiting for the best time to propose. When Nate’s parents visit Atlanta, they meet CeCe and express approval of her as a possible wife for Nate. He asks CeCe to introduce him to her parents, but she stubbornly refuses his request. CeCe withdraws emotionally from Nate, who is frustrated by her distrust.

When CeCe’s parents call to tell her that her grandfather is dying, CeCe asks Nate to accompany her and David to her Alabama hometown. Nate meets her parents in the hospital and stays at their home. He is disturbed by her unfriendly reception of the Bradshaws when they arrive at the Williamses’ house with a gift for David. Questioning CeCe about her continuing anger toward Eric, Nate suggests she might still love him, telling her she needs to resolve her emotions concerning David’s father before they can continue their relationship.

Returning to Atlanta, CeCe admits her secret to Nate, revealing that she blackmailed Eric to pay her twenty thousand dollars for her silence, keeping her pregnancy concealed from Yolanda. CeCe had used that large sum as a down payment on her house and for other expenses but, feeling guilty, had been working to earn money to reimburse Eric in one large payment (she never mentions his legal obligation to pay child support). Remarking that earning twenty thousand dollars might take years, Nate tells CeCe they cannot be married until she asks Eric for his forgiveness and arranges to pay the twenty thousand dollars in smaller amounts.

When CeCe meets Ronald, a teenage boy whose girlfriend is pregnant, she reassures him and offers advice. CeCe realizes her experiences might help teenagers dealing with unplanned pregnancies. She travels home to Alabama to apologize to her family and the Bradshaws, explaining her anguish when they did not support her emotionally during her pregnancy and inviting them to visit David. Returning to Atlanta, she tells Nate she has forgiven Eric and the Bradshaws, her parents, and herself. CeCe and Nate reconcile, forgiving each other and bonding through prayer. CeCe decides to continue volunteering at Genesis House even though she has completed her 150 hours of service. She plans to develop a program to assist pregnant teenagers. CeCe and Nate vow to trust themselves, and their relationship, to God.

Christian Themes

Awakening Mercy was the first novel in Angela Benson’s Genesis House series. Although in some respects it is representative of a new generation of romances and novels written specifically for a Christian audience, Library Journal deemed it a “breakthrough Christian romance” for addressing universal issues featuring contemporary African American characters. The novel won Best Multicultural Romance from Romantic Times magazine and Best Contemporary Ethnic Romance from Affaire de Coeur magazine; it was a finalist for the coveted RITA Award (awarded by the Romance Writers of America), Christy Award (given by the Christian Booksellers Association), and Gold Pen Award (from the Black Writers Alliance). Benson, a graduate of Spelman College who majored in mathematics and industrial engineering before becoming a novelist, has said of her novel: “This book is close to my heart. . . . First, because I consider it an honor to write for the Christian market. Second, in many ways, CeCe’s story—about living with the consequences of our bad choices, and finding forgiveness—is my story, too.” Forgiveness, self-acceptance, trust, and community service are the key themes of Awakening Mercy.

Service and social work help CeCe, Nate, and other characters in the novel heal from emotional wounds inflicted by themselves, others, and fate. Although she is devoted to caring for her son, CeCe reluctantly serves her community as a punishment. Finding comfort and connections with others helps CeCe recover and sustain her faith. By performing good deeds, she realizes her Christian responsibilities, viewing her work as valuable not only to the people she helps but also as a gift to strengthen her belief in herself and God.

Prayer is an important aspect of the characters’ relationships with one another and acceptance of themselves. When she was conflicted about her pregnancy, CeCe prayed in college with B. B., who guided her to seek comfort from God despite feeling spiritually alienated. Prayer brings Nate and CeCe together as they form their relationship and face issues that test their love. Although leery of commitment after previous partners’ shortcomings, they patiently listen to and respect the fears and doubts each expresses, seeking help from God to provide comfort and ease pain the other is experiencing.

Family, whether biological or formed through friendship, community, or church, is essential to the characters. Nate invites CeCe and David to meet his parents and friends and includes them in his life. The trio attend church together, where the congregation views them as a family. CeCe and Nate help their friends fix broken relationships and find love. CeCe realizes that by feeling empathy and giving her time and assistance to people suffering personal crises, she also can heal her heart. Such kindnesses awaken CeCe from her despair and anger, connecting her to God and her community.

Nate insists that CeCe learn to forgive David’s father and grandparents. Most important, he states she needs to forgive herself. He assures her that God forgives her. CeCe must overcome her sense of shame and unworthiness to regain her faith and accept herself. By freeing herself of her guilt and self-loathing, CeCe can open her heart and feel redeemed and deserving of being loved. She can then begin to accept and trust others. Her personal revival transforms her into a person who has a sense of belonging and can commit to herself, Nate, her family, friends, and God.

Sources for Further Study

Benson, Angela. Telling the Tale: The African-American Fiction Writer’s Guide. New York: Berkley Books, 2000. Writing at about the same time she created Awakening Mercy, Benson discusses how she became a writer and appropriated aspects of her life for her stories.

Black Issues Book Review 2, no. 1 (January/February, 2001): 18. Reviews Awakening Mercy and other novels.

Duncan, Melanie C. Review of Awakening Mercy. Library Journal 125, no. 14 (September 1, 2000): 184. Identifies the novel as a “breakthrough Christian romance featuring African American characters and universal themes. . . .”

Frederick, Marla F. Between Sundays: Black Women and Everyday Struggles of Faith. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Useful for understanding CeCe’s attitudes, this study examines how spirituality impacts southern African American women’s reactions to problems. Describes varying religious views of gender and sexuality.

Nelson, Timothy J. Every Time I Feel the Spirit: Religious Experience and Ritual in an African American Church. New York: New York University Press, 2005. Sociological study exploring how southerners similar to Benson’s characters develop individual and communal relations with God to sustain and comfort them in their daily lives.