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The Healing
A hopeful story of unexpected love in the midst of illness, pain, and family conflict
John is the youngest of seven boys and is constantly overshadowed by his big brothers who seem to all be stronger, smarter, and better looking than he is. As a teenager, he knows he’s overweight and is sure he’ll never be popular like his brothers are. But those struggles are nothing compared to the battle he is about to fight. After weeks of feeling exhausted, depressed, and achy, he has no idea what’s wrong with him and begins to wonder if he’ll be miserable for the rest of his life. By the time he is finally diagnosed with Lyme disease, his body is failing and his spirits are nearly at rock bottom.
John’s parents and brothers try to help him, but as weeks turn into months with no real sign of improvement, the illness begins to take its toll on all of them. Minor disagreements turn into angry fights and old hurts surface amidst uncertainty and exhaustion. The Amish family that was once so tightly knit is unraveling before John’s eyes.
When John’s older brother Samuel begins dating Lena Zook—John’s eighth grade teacher—he tries to be happy for them, but it’s hard not to feel jealous. With all his health issues, John figures he’ll be lucky if he makes it through rumschpringe at all; he doesn’t dare hope to date anyone as lovely and smart and fun as Lena is.
Determined not to continue burdening his family, John begins to discover a quiet inner strength, even as his body falters. Recovery seems far off, but he nurtures a glimmer of hope that God has not forgotten him. And is it his imagination, or is Lena starting to spend more time with him than she’s spending with Samuel? Torn between following his heart and the fear of tearing his family apart even more, John’s struggles seem to only get more complicated, even as that glimmer of hope fans into flame.
John is the youngest of seven boys and is constantly overshadowed by his big brothers who seem to all be stronger, smarter, and better looking than he is. As a teenager, he knows he’s overweight and is sure he’ll never be popular like his brothers are. But those struggles are nothing compared to the battle he is about to fight. After weeks of feeling exhausted, depressed, and achy, he has no idea what’s wrong with him and begins to wonder if he’ll be miserable for the rest of his life. By the time he is finally diagnosed with Lyme disease, his body is failing and his spirits are nearly at rock bottom.
John’s parents and brothers try to help him, but as weeks turn into months with no real sign of improvement, the illness begins to take its toll on all of them. Minor disagreements turn into angry fights and old hurts surface amidst uncertainty and exhaustion. The Amish family that was once so tightly knit is unraveling before John’s eyes.
When John’s older brother Samuel begins dating Lena Zook—John’s eighth grade teacher—he tries to be happy for them, but it’s hard not to feel jealous. With all his health issues, John figures he’ll be lucky if he makes it through rumschpringe at all; he doesn’t dare hope to date anyone as lovely and smart and fun as Lena is.
Determined not to continue burdening his family, John begins to discover a quiet inner strength, even as his body falters. Recovery seems far off, but he nurtures a glimmer of hope that God has not forgotten him. And is it his imagination, or is Lena starting to spend more time with him than she’s spending with Samuel? Torn between following his heart and the fear of tearing his family apart even more, John’s struggles seem to only get more complicated, even as that glimmer of hope fans into flame.
- GenresAmishAmish Fiction
346 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 4, 2018
40 people are currently reading
151 people want to read
About the author
Linda Byler
90 books230 followersLinda Byler grew up Amish and is an active member of the Amish church today. Growing up, Linda Byler loved to read and write. In fact, she still does. She is well known within the Amish community as a columnist for a weekly Amish newspaper. Linda and her husband, their children and grandchildren live in central Pennsylvania.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 3, 2018
The Healing by Linda Byler takes readers to Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. John Stoltzfus comes from a large family of ten children with two loving parents, Mary and Elmer Stoltzfus. John is fourteen years old and currently attends Hickory Ridge School. John is at that awkward stage with acne, buck teeth, chubby and he wears glasses. Being the youngest in the family, he feels invisible and that his thoughts do not matter. When a new teacher takes over the classroom before Christmas, John is instantly smitten with her. Lena Zook’s smile is the bright spot in his day. The following fall, John beings to feel ill. Shoulder pain, headaches, chills and he is tired all the time. After several unsuccessful trips to the doctor, John begins to withdrawal into himself. The noise and pain become too much to bear at times and he only wishes to be alone. Mary hovers over John trying one home remedy after another. She becomes anxious, worried and tired as time goes on. The brothers begin bickering and the family becomes divided as the older boys feel that John is just being lazy, and the other brothers are worried for their younger sibling. When Samuel, the oldest brother, begins dating Lena, John has a mixture of feelings. He also wonders if he will ever be well enough to court a young woman. When a change of scenery fails to revive John’s spirits, he returns home. He begins to pray for help and looks to God for guidance. Just when things begin to look up for John, the unthinkable happens. Follow John’s journey in The Healing.
The Healing caught my attention because I know what it is like to have an illness that people do not understand and is hard to diagnose. We get to watch John struggle through his illness and lack of faith. He has a large family where the brothers tease each other, and their mother loves to dote on each of them. We get to see the toll that an illness can take on a family. It wears you down physically and mentally. I thought the author gave readers a realistic portrayal of someone suffering with pain, loneliness, depression and so much more. Some of the Christian themes present are prayer, relying on God, God only gives us what we have the strength to handle (this is a hard one for me), God is in control, having faith, and remember that God loves us, and He sacrificed His only son for us. Other themes present in the story are love, family, forgiveness, understanding, and friendship. While The Healing has good writing, I struggled with the pace of the story. It also seemed the same information was being presented over and over. It would have been nice if the story epilogue. The story seemed incomplete (I wanted closure). My rating for The Healing is 3.5 out of 5 stars. The Healing is a good story for the younger readers (age thirteen and up). The Healing is a lovely, heartfelt and emotional novel that will appeal to fans of Linda Byler and Amish fiction.
The Healing caught my attention because I know what it is like to have an illness that people do not understand and is hard to diagnose. We get to watch John struggle through his illness and lack of faith. He has a large family where the brothers tease each other, and their mother loves to dote on each of them. We get to see the toll that an illness can take on a family. It wears you down physically and mentally. I thought the author gave readers a realistic portrayal of someone suffering with pain, loneliness, depression and so much more. Some of the Christian themes present are prayer, relying on God, God only gives us what we have the strength to handle (this is a hard one for me), God is in control, having faith, and remember that God loves us, and He sacrificed His only son for us. Other themes present in the story are love, family, forgiveness, understanding, and friendship. While The Healing has good writing, I struggled with the pace of the story. It also seemed the same information was being presented over and over. It would have been nice if the story epilogue. The story seemed incomplete (I wanted closure). My rating for The Healing is 3.5 out of 5 stars. The Healing is a good story for the younger readers (age thirteen and up). The Healing is a lovely, heartfelt and emotional novel that will appeal to fans of Linda Byler and Amish fiction.
September 21, 2018
The Healing is a amazing novel written by Linda Byler. This book takes the reader on a horrendous journey of a young Amish man who has developed a terrible desease. This young man deals with so many tragic health conditions it makes you wonder if he will ever be cured.
My favorite characters are John and Lena. John is the stricken young man who begins to think he will die a young death and then Lena comes into his life with a vengeance but no one believes any thing will develope between them. The author has done an extraordinary great job telling this story of loss, love, faith, and of course the strength to heal. The characters all play an important part in John's life. There is still another tragedy that will send you down a very dark road shaking your head.
I did not receive a complimentary copy of this book to read and review. I was not approached by anyone to post a favorable review. I have rated this book with five stars for meeting my expectations of an amazing story that I can highly recommend to others. Through this story I have learned alot about a desease that many develope.
Congratulations to Linda Byler on writing this fantastic love story for her readers to enjoy. I will be anticipating her next novel in the future.
My favorite characters are John and Lena. John is the stricken young man who begins to think he will die a young death and then Lena comes into his life with a vengeance but no one believes any thing will develope between them. The author has done an extraordinary great job telling this story of loss, love, faith, and of course the strength to heal. The characters all play an important part in John's life. There is still another tragedy that will send you down a very dark road shaking your head.
I did not receive a complimentary copy of this book to read and review. I was not approached by anyone to post a favorable review. I have rated this book with five stars for meeting my expectations of an amazing story that I can highly recommend to others. Through this story I have learned alot about a desease that many develope.
Congratulations to Linda Byler on writing this fantastic love story for her readers to enjoy. I will be anticipating her next novel in the future.
June 29, 2023
It took me a while to get all the characters figured out. Once I did I liked the book, except for the never ending mentions of lymes disease... I didn't need reminded that was the illness John had.
August 30, 2018
The Healing by Linda Byler is a Christian novel that grabbed me in quickly. An Amish family once happy and fine, suffers. The youngest Amish boy is constantly picked on by his brothers. None of them understood what he was going through nor how he felt. I felt so much sympathy for John I wanted to hug him. But seeing as I couldn’t, all I could do was cheer and pray for him. His journey is one filled with sadness, shame, guilt, responsibility, and love. God is good. Themes of faith, family, and love are strong. The mother wanted to give up multiple times, when John was suffering. Yet, her husband never let her fall down from her faith. He kept strong holding her up despite the downfalls. I fell in love with the entire family. It was hard not to…I saw them at their best and their worst. No novel, I have read has quite shown me the realistic sides to an Amish family. No one is perfect. We all suffer. How we handle it is where we might differ. Overall, this novel tested my strength.
I received this copy from the publisher. This is my voluntary review.
I received this copy from the publisher. This is my voluntary review.
August 23, 2022
I’m angry.
As a lifelong sufferer of Lyme, and having been in late stage for over 20 years, there is so much misleading about this book.
First of all, it is true that most doctors don’t understand it. Most doctors are blissfully ignorant to the fact that blood tests are not reliable and there’s a significant percentage of false negatives. I will also say that quite a bit of John’s symptoms were accurate.
Now. That last paragraph was what gained this book a second star. People with Lyme do NOT just randomly get better on their own. People with Lyme can’t “just try harder“ and suddenly feel better. It doesn’t work that way, and I’m beyond insulted that someone dared to put that in this book.
As if all of that isn’t bad enough, it seems that the only member of the family who believed he was really sick was the mother. Sometimes the father, but he seemed to waffle back-and-forth. So why on earth were the brothers allowed to taunt him and treat him like garbage over being sick?! The oldest brother was into his 20s while all of this was going on, any decent parent would’ve kicked him to the curb when he refused to stop being abusive to his sick brother. And the mother complained constantly about having to cook so much and do so much laundry, but yet continue to do so for the son that was abusive to the sick son that she worked so hard to care for?
Now I don’t know any Amish people personally, and it’s been several years since I’ve lived in an area even remotely close to an Amish community. But riding in vans, wearing bright colored shirts, and eating Froot Loops is definitely not how the Amish people that I’ve seen lived. Shopping in Walmart? Seems pretty far-fetched to me. But again, I could be wrong on that angle. It all just seemed very bizarre to me. They can’t have their homes wired for electricity yet they have a propane refrigerator and numerous battery operated devices and lamps?
If all of the content wasn’t bad enough, the writing style is boring and extremely repetitive.
I purposely read this book even though it’s not a typical genre I would look for because it is so rare to read about somebody who is severely chronically ill like I am. I had somewhat higher hopes for it and I’m completely disappointed.
As a lifelong sufferer of Lyme, and having been in late stage for over 20 years, there is so much misleading about this book.
First of all, it is true that most doctors don’t understand it. Most doctors are blissfully ignorant to the fact that blood tests are not reliable and there’s a significant percentage of false negatives. I will also say that quite a bit of John’s symptoms were accurate.
Now. That last paragraph was what gained this book a second star. People with Lyme do NOT just randomly get better on their own. People with Lyme can’t “just try harder“ and suddenly feel better. It doesn’t work that way, and I’m beyond insulted that someone dared to put that in this book.
As if all of that isn’t bad enough, it seems that the only member of the family who believed he was really sick was the mother. Sometimes the father, but he seemed to waffle back-and-forth. So why on earth were the brothers allowed to taunt him and treat him like garbage over being sick?! The oldest brother was into his 20s while all of this was going on, any decent parent would’ve kicked him to the curb when he refused to stop being abusive to his sick brother. And the mother complained constantly about having to cook so much and do so much laundry, but yet continue to do so for the son that was abusive to the sick son that she worked so hard to care for?
Now I don’t know any Amish people personally, and it’s been several years since I’ve lived in an area even remotely close to an Amish community. But riding in vans, wearing bright colored shirts, and eating Froot Loops is definitely not how the Amish people that I’ve seen lived. Shopping in Walmart? Seems pretty far-fetched to me. But again, I could be wrong on that angle. It all just seemed very bizarre to me. They can’t have their homes wired for electricity yet they have a propane refrigerator and numerous battery operated devices and lamps?
If all of the content wasn’t bad enough, the writing style is boring and extremely repetitive.
I purposely read this book even though it’s not a typical genre I would look for because it is so rare to read about somebody who is severely chronically ill like I am. I had somewhat higher hopes for it and I’m completely disappointed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2018
I have read dozens of Amish fiction novels over the past decade or so, and this book was unusual in several respects.
First of all, the main character is a teen boy, John Stoltzfus. Secondly, this book gives a peek into a side of Amish families I don't recall seeing in many books--the sibling rivalry and almost constant verbal/physical bullying that goes on between the seven sons in the Stoltzfus family mostly against the youngest son, John. Their treatment of John made me uncomfortable as a reader. Thirdly, the critical inner-narratives the various characters {i.e., mother-to-daughters, sisters-to-sisters, etc.} harbor regarding their family members and those in their Amish community was surprising to me.
I enjoyed the author's descriptions of nature and the four seasons in Pennsylvania and Kentucky where the story took place. The characters of John and Lena were well-developed and likable. Dewan Reynolds, a young African-American man who worked at John's sister's dog kennels in Kentucky, was a welcomed addition to the story with his infectious humor and positivity. The pages of the book seemed to come alive when Dewan was written into a scene.
I borrowed this book from the new book shelf at the local public library.
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First of all, the main character is a teen boy, John Stoltzfus. Secondly, this book gives a peek into a side of Amish families I don't recall seeing in many books--the sibling rivalry and almost constant verbal/physical bullying that goes on between the seven sons in the Stoltzfus family mostly against the youngest son, John. Their treatment of John made me uncomfortable as a reader. Thirdly, the critical inner-narratives the various characters {i.e., mother-to-daughters, sisters-to-sisters, etc.} harbor regarding their family members and those in their Amish community was surprising to me.
I enjoyed the author's descriptions of nature and the four seasons in Pennsylvania and Kentucky where the story took place. The characters of John and Lena were well-developed and likable. Dewan Reynolds, a young African-American man who worked at John's sister's dog kennels in Kentucky, was a welcomed addition to the story with his infectious humor and positivity. The pages of the book seemed to come alive when Dewan was written into a scene.
I borrowed this book from the new book shelf at the local public library.
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October 5, 2018
The Healing by Linda Byler
Being the youngest of seven brothers John finds it difficult at best most of the time, he is always getting teased, picked on or looked over by someone, then when he gets sick things turn from bad to worse, will his faith carry him through? Does he even have faith? This is a story of how one family deals with the terrible health crisis and how one member learns to depend on his faith and trust himself to carry him through to the end.
I have to admit at times I had a hard time following this book because it seemed to drag, but overall it was very good.
Being the youngest of seven brothers John finds it difficult at best most of the time, he is always getting teased, picked on or looked over by someone, then when he gets sick things turn from bad to worse, will his faith carry him through? Does he even have faith? This is a story of how one family deals with the terrible health crisis and how one member learns to depend on his faith and trust himself to carry him through to the end.
I have to admit at times I had a hard time following this book because it seemed to drag, but overall it was very good.
October 31, 2018
Just ok
I found this book to be very repetitive. I have read many of her other books and really liked them, but this one just didn’t hold my interest.
I found this book to be very repetitive. I have read many of her other books and really liked them, but this one just didn’t hold my interest.
February 11, 2019
Very slow read, I had a difficult time getting through it and ended up skimming some parts. Not her best written book.
April 23, 2019
I really liked this book, it was sweet. The boy had such a hard time with Lyme's disease but got through it with Grace and the love of his family and others.
August 5, 2019
I felt like the author left out some important facts. But overall a good book.
August 17, 2021
Hindsight is 20/20 after many trials with an illness, lessons are learned
August 1, 2022
A must read!!! A truly heart warming story!!!
August 26, 2022
I typically don't gravitate toward Amish books but this one was great! I couldn't read it fast enough! A lot of information about the Amish lifestyle and also Lyme disease.
February 5, 2023
I hated the writing style of this book. The only thing that kept me going was learning about Lyme disease and how it works. I will not be continuing the series.
May 10, 2025
Well written but felt so bad for John… did not like how his brothers treated him.
January 24, 2026
I did not enjoy this book at all. Very slow moving and depressing,
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews