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    The Healing: A Novel
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    The Healing: A Novel
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    The Healing: A Novel
    Audiobook13 hours

    The Healing: A Novel

    Written by Jonathan Odell

    Narrated by Adenrele Ojo

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The pre-Civil War South comes brilliantly to life in this masterfully written novel about a mysterious and charismatic healer readers won’t soon forget

    Mississippi plantation mistress Amanda Satterfield loses her daughter to cholera after her husband refuses to treat her for what he considers to be a “slave disease.” Insane with grief, Amanda takes a newborn slave child as her own and names her Granada, much to the outrage of her husband and the amusement of their white neighbors. Troubled by his wife’s disturbing mental state and concerned about a mysterious plague sweeping through his slave population, Master Satterfield purchases Polly Shine, a slave reputed to be a healer. But Polly’s sharp tongue and troubling predictions cause unrest across the plantation. Complicating matters further, Polly recognizes “the gift” in Granada, the mistress’s pet, and a domestic battle of wills ensues.

    Seventy-five years later, Granada, now known as Gran Gran, is still living on the plantation and must revive the buried memories of her past in order to heal a young girl abandoned to her care. Together they learn the power of story to heal the body, the spirit and the soul.

    Rich in mood and atmosphere, The Healing is the kind of novel readers can’t put down—and can’t wait to recommend once they’ve finished.

    This download includes a 30-minute bonus feature.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateFeb 21, 2012
    ISBN9780307989376
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Healing

    4/5

    113 ratings17 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Loved this book. It kept me captivated for the duration.
    • 3/5
      Competently written. Not particularly special. Better than The Help and The Kitchen House.
    • 4/5
      I finished this book in a couple of days because I never put it down. This book about an ex-slave's story is very unique and colorful. The healing aspect was an interesting touch and I thought it was cleverly incorporated. In spite of the fact that I like the plot, I feel that there is a little something missing, like maybe the central characters' stories and motives could have been elaborated upon more (except of course for Granada). I was also a little irritated with Polly's harsh character and her way of explaining things to Granada. Granada herself was frustrating sometimes because her character seemed pretty slow on the uptake as a youth, although at times too much was expected of her by everyone. Overall it's a great novel, very thought-provoking and highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      Very moving story about race, freedom, and healing. The author creates a great frame for telling stories from the Mississippi Delta about a legendary healer on a plantation and her impact on a child. I think the author is trying to help heal the social wounds our society suffers as a result of racial slavery and bigotry. I could not put the book down.
    • 5/5
      Gran Gran Satterfield is visited by Lucy, a dying woman and her daughter Violet. After Lucy dies, Violet is mute, but when she discovers the clay models Gran Gran has created of her friends and fellow slaves pre-Civil War, she becomes interested in the stories Gran Gran tells about those people and those times. Fascinating look at plantation life before the war.
    • 5/5
      Amazing! I think that The Healing by Jonathan Odell is one the best books of the year. This is great American Historical Fiction. It is set in two time periods, 1933 and the Pre-Civil War era.When the story opens in 1933 and Gran Gran is at home, she treated many people and has been midwife many times but times are changing. A woman is lying on her cot. She has been treating her but the woman has been bleeding badly and is now dead. The woman’s daughter, Violet is standing still and quiet watching. Then the story goes back to before the Civil War. The Mistress of a plantation, Mistress Amanda lost her daughter to cholera. Her husband refuses to have his daughter treated because cholera is thought of as a Negro disease. Mistress Amanda, wild with grief has an eggplant black girl snatched away from a field hand. She names the girl Granada. Granada is raised as a house slave and is paraded out for social gathering in the fancy silk dresses of Mistress’s dead daughter. Granada takes her place alongside the other pet of the Mistress, a monkey named Daniel Webster. Granada thinks that she knows who she is.Jonathan Odell writes the emotion and thoughts of a woman slave so convincingly; I had to check the cover twice to remind myself that it was not a woman writing. I think that after you finish reading this book you will agree that The Healing is the perfect title for this story. It is a story of folk doctoring but also a story of learning who you are and accepting it. This is a book about white and black people who have had experienced sorrowful tragedies. If you let the wisdom in this book linger in your thoughts, you can learn much from it. It is the heart and the mind together and learning that sometimes listening to the heart has to been learned.I highly recommend this book to all people interested in American Historical fiction and what slavery does to the enslavers and the slaves both.
    • 2/5
      Rating: 2* of five The Book Description: "Compelling, tragic, comic, tender and mystical... Combines the historical significance of Kathryn Stockett's The Help with the wisdom of Toni Morrison's Beloved." —Minneapolis Star TribuneRich in mood and atmosphere, The Healing is a warmhearted novel about the unbreakable bonds between three generations of female healers and their power to restore the body, the spirit, and the soul.In Antebellum Mississippi, Granada Satterfield has the mixed fortune to be born on the same day that her plantation mistress's daughter, Becky, dies of cholera. Believing that the newborn possesses some of her daughter's spirit, the Mistress Amanda adopts Granada, dolling her up in Becky's dresses and giving her a special place in the family despite her husband's protests. But when The Master brings a woman named Polly Shine to help quell the debilitating plague that is sweeping through the slave quarters, Granada's life changes. For Polly sees something in the young girl, a spark of "The Healing," and a domestic battle of wills begins, one that will bring the two closer but that will ultimately lead to a great tragedy. And seventy-five years later, Granada, still living on the abandoned plantation long after slavery ended, must revive the buried memories before history repeats itself.Inspirational and suspenseful, The Healing is the kind of historical fiction readers can’t put down—and can’t wait to recommend once they’ve finished."A remarkable rite-of-passage novel with an unforgettable character. . . .The Healing transcends any clichés of the genre with its captivating, at times almost lyrical, prose; its firm grasp of history; vivid scenes; and vital, fully realized people, particularly the slaves with their many shades of color and modes of survival." —The Associated Press My Review: I would ordinarily have consigned this to The Mouldering Mound of ~Meh~ had I not been so worked up over its sheer gracelessness, its plodding flatfooted ill-thought-out platitudinousness, and its breathlessly overwrought silliness.”I told her I ain't nobody's pet!” Granada snapped, stomping her foot.He looked back at Granada. “I'm sorry for it, Granada, but you best get on back to that sick house. Master ain't fooling around.”Granada couldn't believe it. Chester was scared of Polly, too!On her dawdling return to the hospital, she thought about what Chester had told Sylvie, the part about the master throwing Polly in a ditch. Granada sure liked the sound of that. Aunt Sylvie always said that without somebody to grieve you into heaven, you might not be able to find your way,“Humph!” Granada thought. “That woman don't belong in heaven! If God is great, He's going to bar the door!” And if there was anything she could do to keep her out, she would gladly do it twice.That was it! (p114, US hardcover edition)Nauseous stuff. Granada...now did you get that? The character's name is Granada! We're on p114 and we must know her name's Granada six times in under a hundred words! Except the one time that she and her might give a slower reader a pause!...is presented as speaking and thinking in a bastard half-dialect speech pattern that drive me wild. Go big or go home, Odell. Use dialect a la Hurston or make it standard English.Appropriate to the story and the time, uses of “He” and “His” for references to the christian deity got on my nerves almost immediately, and three hundred pages later had worked me into a frothing frenzy of loathing. This adolescent exceptionalism on behalf of an allegedly immortal and omnipotent being is culturally insensitive and intellectually indefensible.But wait! There's more!Gran Gran, as she (remember now!) comes to be called, takes lessons in healering from the hated Polly who is of course the beloved Polly and she (remember now!) becomes a healer known in three counties and even, at the end of her long life, takes on another soul to bring up in the ways of healering, called Violet, who has a Shocking Connection to Gran Gran!Oh good gawd, I can't go on. If three hundred and thirty pages of exclams and pseudodialect do not cause you to long for a swift and merciful death, go on and read it. Maybe, if you liked The Help, this will give you some pleasure, being The Help set in slave times.For my part, I will daub myself liberally with baboon dung before I will pick up another highly praised Southern-set novel.
    • 5/5
      The Healing is one of the finest pieces of historical fiction I have read in a long time. When you finish the novel and then read about the author's life and what led him to write the novel, you will be even more moved by what you have just experienced in this book. Pick it up, read it, and spread the word.NOTE: Ignore the comparisons that reviewers have made between this book and The Help -- this book is SO much more!
    • 4/5
      This is a beautifully imagined take on plantation life and the emotional, spirtitual and physical healing that is needed through such strife. It took me a while to weigh these words after I finished. On the surface, the book is a well written story. But when I was able to really think about the characters, and their actions, with the whole premise of "healing" as a character, it became much more. I often think not alot has changed in out treatment of others and we all need a healing of some sort. Odell's sincere and heartfelt acknowledgements is one of the best I've read, rather than the usual "I'd like to thank the academy list". Odell's personal story enhanced my own reading. I look forward to his next work.
    • 3/5
      Although the book is slow-going, the plot is sweet and at the end of the book, I didn't want to say good-bye to the characters.
    • 5/5
      The Healing by Jonathan Odell has been compared to the monster hit “The Help” in that they are both stories about women treated as Slaves in the South. While I liked “The Help,” I was actually really glad the stories read very differently to me. Where “The Help” felt light in many ways to me, “The Healing” was a complex, vivid portrayal of how multi-generational the effects of slavery were in the United States as well as how interconnected the lives of people are in many ways.Granada is a slave born on a plantation that seems plagued by bad luck. When the plantation’s mistress loses yet another child to death, Granada is brought in as a surrogate child. Years later, Polly Shine, a slave healer, is brought to the plantation to heal the slaves when a disease breaks out and Polly’s arrival brings Granada to her knees and changes how she views her world and herself. How Polly goes about changing life on the plantation is staggering and completely unexpected. The book was compelling and I enjoyed reading it. I found myself bringing it with me everywhere so that I could read it in my downtime. While it does not have the humor of some of the contemporary setting novels of late, the story is well-written and I felt better for having read it. It involved some mystical elements and also some interesting insights into human nature. A thoughtful novel that I could re-read a few times and still not catch everything the author intended.
    • 5/5
      Wow. This was a story. From the time I opened the book and began reading, I felt as if I was at the feet of a storyteller that I could not take my eyes off of nor tear my ears away from. Odell weaved this story like a master craftsman.This story opens in 1933, during a night of bad weather, a child in a blood stained dress, and the child's dead mother all left in the kitchen of an old woman who happens to be a former slave. The old lady, Granada affectionately known as "Gran Gran", begins to tell Violet (the motherless child left with her) her story to try and comfort her. Gran Gran went back to where it all began in 1847, on the Satterfield plantation in the Mississippi Delta.Mistress Amanda Satterfield lost her daughter, Miss Becky, to cholera and summoned the cook Aunt Slyvie and her husband Old Silas to go and get a newborn baby from one of the field slaves. That baby happened to be Granada who was raised in the Master's home and occasionally dressed in Miss Becky's clothes. As Granada grew so did her fierce loyalty to the Mistress. When a new slave arrives at the plantation, things changed forever. Polly Shine was a "healer" but she was called everything from a conjure woman to a witch. When she chose Granada to be her apprentice because she saw that Granada had the "gift" when she first laid eyes on her. This apprenticeship moved Granada out of the big house from her beloved Mistress and Little Lord, her playmate and the Master's son. Granada fought Polly tooth and nail but Polly never ceased to plant seeds of wisdom in Granada hoping they would take root. Granada's fierce loyalty to the Mistress always seemed to come back and choke out these seeds before they could take root.As Gran Gran tells Violet her story to soothe and calm her, Violet begins to relax and shocks Gran Gran with how she fits into Gran Gran's story. The aging Gran Gran felt out of touch with her "gift" until Violet came along under the most devastating and tragic of circumstances. Polly Shine who always had a way of being in the "weave" of things helped to heal Granada and Violet long after she was gone.It was so hard to write a review for this book without totally spoiling it. I merely scratched the surface with this review. These were some of the most vivid characters I have ever read. They jumped off the page into your life. They wrapped their arms around you and followed you throughout your day. I found myself "laughing out" so many times. There were many times that my heart ached because Odell did not try to sugar coat life on the plantation. After reading this book, one will never look at "freedom" the same way again.
    • 3/5
      I really wanted to love this book but it was slow moving in the beginning and didn't reel me in. I enjoy a leisurely paced, character driven novel as much as a suspensful thriller, but the writing has to be exceptional and flow smoothly to keep me involved. This just wasn't the case with "The Healing". That being said, I know several people who would enjoy this novel and I will recommend it to them, though it wasn't the book for me.
    • 5/5
      There are numerous books about slaves and the Deep South but few leave an indelible impression on this reader. The Healing by Jonathan Odell is one such book. Granada is born into slavery but has spent most of her young life at the side of the plantation mistress, much like a pet. Unfortunately Granada views her life through rose-tinted glasses and presumes that she is much better than other slaves simply because of her so-called status with the mistress. When Master Satterfield faces a plague that is devastating his slave population he brings in an older woman that has a well-known reputation as a healer, Polly Shine.In many aspects, Polly has the same amount of leeway to practice her healing arts and live her life as Granada had during her younger years. Polly's request that Granada join her in practicing healing is met with plenty of discomfort and tension, especially on the part of Granada. Although a slave, Polly has many ideas on what slavery and freedom entail and these ideas cause a split amongst many of the slaves into those that accept and understand her feelings and those that feel she is a troublemaker. Ultimately Polly ends up teaching Granada much of the healing arts, as well as providing hope to some of the slaves on the Satterfield plantation. Fast forward seventy-five years and Granada still lives on the plantation where she was born. The area has devolved into housing for many of the blacks descended from the slaves. Granada still practices the healing arts but there aren't many who approach her for assistance, until a young girl, Violet, is left in her care. Violet is dealing with abandonment issues relating to her mother's death and being left in Gran-Gran's custody. As she slowly heals, Violet discovers the history of the plantation and gorges herself on the Gran-Gran's memories of the people and events from the past. The Healing is just as much a story of the healing practices of Granada and Polly Shine as it is about the healing that Violet brings to Gran-Gran years after slavery has ended.
    • 5/5
      What an amazing and magical read. I absolutely loved it and so did not want it to end. It is the eve of the Civil War, on a large plantation in Mississippi and the master pays a unprecedented sum of money for a woman slave said to be a healer. Things are not going well on the plantation, slaves are dying and the mistress is going insane after the death of her daughter. Enters Polly Shine, a character I will never forget. I read an interview by this author and he includes much in his afterword, on how he felt after being raised in white man's Mississippi he felt he was missing a great part of his history, he actually talked to former midwives and other blacks raised in that era for the information in his novel. Comparing it to The Help is doing this book a disservice, because though I did like that book, this book immerses the reader in the plantation system, it is told from the viewpoint of Polly Shine and Granada, a young house raised slave that she takes to train, because Polly Shine feels that she has the same gift as herself. He explains exactly what freedom meant to the slaves and how some were not able to move on. It is a fascinating, historical read and I highly recommend it. ARC provided by Net Galley.
    • 4/5
      I picked this book up with much anticipation and was somewhat disappointed that the first third of it seemed to drag a bit. I was pleased to find that the early part of the book was a slow build to a mind-blowingly terrific novel. I'd encourage anyone struggling with the first part to stick with it. It's the story of Granada, born to a slave and taken as an infant to be raised by Mistress Amanda Satterfield, the plantation owner's wife, who is barely hanging on to reality since the death of her own child. Odell creates a marvelous sense of place with his descriptions of the plantation and the slave quarters. He astutely captures the inner workings of Granada as she struggles to understand her surroundings. He explores the chasm between races, as well as the question of identity and what it means to be "owned" by another human being. Granada never questions her existence, or slavery, until Polly Shine, a healer, and also a slave, is brought to the plantation. Polly takes an unwilling Granada as her apprentice, and challenges her to develop her own identity, to question slavery, and to appreciate the beauty and history of her people. The novel deftly explores the psychological impact of slavery. It's difficult to say that this is a novel about (insert theme here). It's about so much-- identity, freedom, the power of story, grief, betrayal, redemption. The character of Polly Shine is incredibly well-developed and the growing relationship between her and Granada is sensitively and beautifully portrayed. The story had the power to move me to tears more than once. An additional treat at the end of the novel itself is an afterward by the author, who enlightens the reader as to his own personal reasons for writing this story. A compelling story whose engaging characters will not soon be forgotten.
    • 5/5
      In my opinion, a book has to be well above very good to rate five stars.Life changing maybe or heart healing, something that strikes a chord mightrate five stars.The story told in this book has found a place in my heart and it will stay firmlyplanted there. Polly Shine is one of the most remarkable characters I have met inany book, by any writer, in my over fifty years of reading.To be very honest, I picked this book up and read a few pages and then set it aside.It wasn't calling out to me the way I expected it to when I read the blurbs. I wasfrustrated, because I had expected more. Well, shame on me for being impatient. If Ihad read beyond the first fifteen or so pages, I would have found my way into thiswonderful story much sooner.We hear the story of Polly Shines arrival on the plantation though stories told tothe girl Violet by Gran Gran. Granada was a child when Polly arrived and was chosen by herbecause Polly saw the glimmer of something special in the small girl. Granada, who grew tobe called Gran Gran wanted no parts of the woman Polly at first, and in fact disliked her.She blamed Polly for having lost her comfortable place as the favored "pet" of the mistress.Children can be so foolish! As time passed, Granada learned to see, she learned to listen andshe grew into wisdom of her own.I don't want to tell any more, I just want to entice you and let you find the gems that are scatteredthroughout this story on your own. Once you fall into the story, you will want to stay, as I did.