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, who, unlike most women in their village, "remain in charge of their own lives." Sylvie, her mother and her grandmother are trusted in the village of Bresnois to treat injuries and illnesses. However, Sylvie's natural ability to view and manipulate the memories of others goes beyond ordinary healing, setting her apart from her mother and grandmother. 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 "a teacher, an adviser.... Someone who could help her with her gift." Sylvie's quest introduces her to new friends (some more trustworthy than others), including a mischievous stowaway, a stern yet kind young merchant and a self-proclaimed witch. Far away from "everyone and 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, challenging standard notions of good and evil. 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. Sylvie realizes that "she could not heal by removing the thing that caused pain."
Although Werlin skillfully evokes Healer and Witch's period setting, Sylvie's journey of self-discovery and its accompanying themes of female empowerment are timeless. Readers looking for a gentle, understated historical fantasy will easily sympathize with Sylvie in her struggle to "use [her] gift for good" and "choose her own future" in a "world that was increasingly hostile to women such as herself." --Alanna Felton, freelance reviewer
Shelf Talker: A young woman's quest to understand her magic powers leads to self-discovery, healing and unexpected friendships in this emotionally sophisticated middle-grade fantasy novel.