The Healer

July 15, 2018
A sheltered New England teen exploited for her gift decides she wants to live a normal life--and in the process discovers the consequences.Eighteen-year-old Portuguese-American Marlena is known as Marlena the Saint because of her unique ability to heal people through her touch. Her controlling mother determines what behaviors and clothing will maintain her holy reputation, but Marlena's desire to know the world grows stronger than her fear of disappointing her mother, especially once she finds out that she is charging money for the healings. With help from a few allies, including her gay friend Helen, Marlena sets out to experience the forbidden: partying, wearing a bikini, having a cellphone. She falls in love and, through physical intimacy, learns comfort with the body she was taught to associate with shame. But her joy comes to a halt when she discovers that someone she loves is sick. Marlena tries to do penance so that the angry, punishing God she was taught to believe in will restore her gift. Marlena's straightforward present-tense narration is disorienting at first but becomes hypnotic after a few chapters. Some readers will enjoy exploring large questions about God, faith, and the meaning of life alongside the confused, questioning protagonist. Some may bristle at the mixture of the profane and the sacred. Whether empathizing with her or annoyed with her overdone rebellion, readers will be left reflecting. Intense. (Fiction. 16-18)

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September 17, 2018
With a deep sense of longing and a beautiful coming-of-age undercurrent, Freitas (The Body Market), a PW contributor, presents a stark and emotional tale about growing up as a saint. Marlena Oliveira’s entire life has centered on her identity as a Healer. Her touch has the power to cure a variety of afflictions, but she has grown up sheltered, homeschooled, and friendless, forbidden to touch others lest it damage her ability. Her existence has consisted of portraying a saintly image and meeting with the weekly audiences her mother sets up. Now 18, she begins to visit a neuroscientist, Angela, who’s interested in studying her brain—visits that begin as small rebellions quickly give way to a world of text messaging, bikinis, and boys, including Finn, a young graduate student who captivates Marlena with his intelligence and his smile. Yet Marlena knows that her desire to live a normal life is completely at odds with the responsibilities of her gift, leaving her feeling isolated and stuck. This delicately crafted, heartfelt novel speaks to the rewards and challenges of creating one’s own identity. Ages 13–up. Agent: Miriam Altshuler, DeFiore & Co.

September 15, 2018
Grades 9-12 Returning to a subject she previously wrote about in The Possibilities of Sainthood (2008), Freitas' new novel follows Marlena, a healer who possesses the ability to cure people with a touch. Her mother has strictly controlled Marlena's life, sacrificing Marlena's normal childhood in the process. Now that Marlena has turned 18 and is legally an adult, she rebels against her mother's rules and takes a break from healing. Readers will enjoy seeing Marlena finally have normal teenage experiences, like wearing a bikini and going to a party, for the first time. This book describes everything in colors, from how it feels to heal someone to how it feels to fall in love. Unfortunately, Marlena's mother, a huge part of Marlena's journey, is not explored to a satisfying depth and conclusion. Additionally, the takeaway at times almost seems to be that one can find a divine experience through sexual acts. But that is not the whole message; this also shows how divinity is accessible to everyone through the power of love.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
Marlena has always been a healer; now eighteen, she lives in isolation with her mother, who arranges audiences with the ailing. While she believes in the power of the visions she experiences, encounters with a curious neuroscientist lead Marlena to question her gift--and her mother's motivations. Marlena's apparently supernatural talents provide an intriguing context to the story's angsty rebellion and doomed romance.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)