The Healing: A Novel by Jonathan Odell

This was a five star read. 

In my opinion, a book has to be well above very good to rate five stars.

Life changing maybe, or heart healing,  or something that strikes a chord might

rate five stars.

The story told in this book has found a place in my heart and it will stay firmly

planted there. Polly Shine is one of the most remarkable characters I have met in

any 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 was

frustrated, because I had expected more. Well, shame on me for being impatient. If I

had read beyond the first fifteen or so pages, I would have found my way into this

wonderful story much sooner.

We hear the story of Polly Shine's arrival on the plantation though stories told to

the girl Violet by Gran Gran. Granada was a child when Polly arrived and was chosen by her

because Polly saw the glimmer of something special in the small girl. Granada, who grew to

be 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 and

she 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 scattered

throughout this story on your own. Once you fall into the story, you will want to stay, as I did.