The Irish Healer
A Novel
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Accused of murdering a child under her care, Irish healer Rachel Dunne flees the ensuing scandal while vowing to never sit at another sickbed. She no longer trusts in her abilities-or God's mercy. But when a cholera epidemic sweeps through London, she feels compelled to nurse the dying daughter of the enigmatic physician she has come to love. James Edmunds, wearied by the deaths of too many patients, has his own doubts about God's grace. Can they each face their darkest fears? Or is it too late to learn that trust and love just might heal their hearts?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Herriman, an award winner for unpublished fiction, debuts with a romance. In 1832, healer Rachel Dunne leaves Ireland seeking a fresh start in England after being acquitted of murdering a child who inexplicably died while in her care. Hiding her past, Rachel works as a library assistant to widowed James Edmunds, a doctor with secrets of his own. Both struggle with feelings of guilt and disappointment with God while trying to deny their growing attraction. Offering help and advice along the way are the doctor's godly housekeeper and Rachel's Christian cousin, who is kind despite the shame her family feels toward their Irish relative. A servant who uncovers Rachel's past, another woman with marriage designs on James, and a cholera epidemic, however, could combine to keep the couple from finding happiness together. Themes of forgiveness, judgment, friendship, trust, and even abortion are nicely handled without becoming preachy. A promising premise and strong descriptive passages, however, fail to balance clich s ("gentle as the sigh of a breeze tickling a stand of reeds"), melodramatic sentence fragments ("A miracle whose name was James Edmunds."), and a slow-moving, predictable plot.
