YA author Nancy Werlin's middle-grade debut is an unhurried and subtle bildungsroman that features a young woman trying to understand her magical powers in medieval France. Healer and Witch gracefully explores themes of identity, family and belonging.
Fifteen-year-old Sylvie comes from a long line of strong women and healers. She, her mother and her grandmother are trusted in the village of Bresnois to treat injuries and illnesses. However, Sylvie's ability to view and manipulate the memories of others goes beyond ordinary healing. When Sylvie's grandmother dies unexpectedly, Sylvie attempts to use magic to cure her mother's grief--with disastrous results. Desperate to fix her mistake, Sylvie leaves Bresnois in search of "someone who could help her with her gift." Sylvie's quest introduces her to new friends, including a mischievous stowaway, a stern yet kind young merchant and a self-proclaimed witch. Far away from "everything she knew," Sylvie comes to realize that the true nature of her power may be something only she can determine for herself.
There are no epic battles or grand prophecies in Healer and Witch, whose fantasy narrative remains grounded in the human stakes facing Sylvie and her companions. Werlin (Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good) brings compassion and complexity to her depictions of the relationships between characters. No individual is defined by a single trait and first appearances often prove misleading. Indeed, a recurring message is that positive and negative experiences are part of a full life, and repressing feelings of unhappiness can be harmful rather than helpful. Readers looking for a gentle, understated historical fantasy will sympathize with Sylvie in her struggle to "choose her own future" in a "world that was increasingly hostile to women such as herself." --Alanna Felton, freelance reviewer