The Price of Mercy: A fight for the right to die with dignity by Sean Davison, published by Melinda Ferguson Books, was launched in partnership with The Cape Town Press Club at Kelvin Grove in Newlands. This is a recording of that conversation.

Order your copy of The Price of Mercy from leading book stores or online. More details on our website: https://www.nb.co.za/en/view-book/?id=9781990973505 

About this book: 

In September 2018, Professor Sean Davison's peaceful life in the leafy suburbs of Pinelands, Cape Town is shattered. Arrested for the murder of Dr Anrich Burger, a once-fit athlete turned quadriplegic who begged Davison to assist him end his life in 2015, the unassuming academic and father of three now finds himself locked up in a prison cell. Under investigation led by the Hawks, an additional two murders are added to the case for which he now faces a mandatory life prison sentence. Written in compelling detail, The Price of Mercy tracks the extraordinary journey that Davison embarks on to prepare for the gruelling legal challenge that lies ahead. The desperate cries of many, begging for his assistance to help end their lives of suffering haunt him. Unwavering in his belief that we all have the right to die with dignity, Davison's selfless battle is made more bearable by his friendship with the late and great Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A book that will change the way you see death.

A fight for the right to die with dignity

Melinda Ferguson Books Chat: The Price of Mercy by Sean Davids

In this riveting, high-concept literary thriller a mute survivor of an African civil war must decide whether to risk his life for the victims of an inhumane medical project taking place on a defunct oil rig in the deep sea.

Malachi is the survivor of a brutal attack by genocidaires on his school: he has seen loved ones slaughtered and his tongue has been cut out. Malachi cannot speak, but he is far from dumb, though he keeps himself to himself, tamping down the traumatic memories as he performs mind-numbing work on the production line in a chicken-packing factory. 

But then an agent for a powerful pharmaceutical company comes looking for a suitable candidate for a mysterious job, and he is offered what he can't refuse: not just handsome financial reward, but also a new tongue – and hope.

Hope soon turns to horror as he is flown out to an old oil rig off the African coast and discovers that he is to be carer and jail-keeper in a highly secretive organ farming operation. His captive charges, he is assured, are all criminals – evil people deserving of death row. They would die anyway. At least now the last days of their lives are useful to those in greater need. Like Malachi himself. 

But are the prisoner-donors all as bad as Frasier Pharmaceuticals say – Malachi is banned from communicating with them, but no one knows that he can read and write, and whispers reach his ears. The stories of the desperate will not be silenced – not even his own. Covertly he comes to know them, even the ones he fears, and as his own memories gain force, he must make a choice – if he wants to try to save one, he must save them all. And risk everything himself. 

Malachi may have no tongue, but his is a voice you will never forget – sharply ironic, vividly descriptive and leavened with humour, every sense sharpened by his loss of speech. He is a compelling guide through the twists and turns of a terrible dilemma, in this darkly suspenseful but ultimately redemptive high-concept thriller.

The Book of Malachi by T. C. Farren

NB Publishers is the largest local publishing company in South Africa with seven main imprints, including Human & Rousseau, Tafelberg, Queillerie, Kwela, Best Books, Melinda Ferguson Books, Lux Verbi and Pharos.

Melinda Ferguson Books Chat: The Price of Mercy by Sean Davids

NB-Uitgewers/Publishers

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