The Healer's Journey: A Historical Dive into Newfoundland's Traditions, Superstitions, & Folklore

by Jeanette Winsor

Touched by the local witch, Thomas is cursed and becomes an outcast until a family secret is revealed…When Thomas Morley, a young Newfoundland fisherman, is rescued from death by the local witch, he discovers he has the ability to cure sickness and charm blood. A gift, he is told, until seizures and blackouts have him glancing into the future, a place that frightens and confuses him. With folk lore and superstition roiling his world, he knows he’s cursed.WWI calls Thomas to Europe, and his dreams of fishing the waters around Cape Bonavista are wrecked. On his return from the war, all that he yearned to come home to is gone. As he struggles to conquer ‘shell shock’ and fights to gain back the life he once had, his world becomes a desolate place. Will the revelation of a closely guarded family secret rescue him from this misery or will it bring about his final demise?Pick up your copy today!Praise for the "A riveting tale of a life of magick, love, and sorrow." ~ JoAnne Soper-Cook"You'll be enchanted by Molly." ~ Sherry Lynn Burry"I love this novel and cannot wait to continue life with Molly and her descendants." ~ Yvette Holland"I loved the book. I’m recommending it to my Book Club." ~ Elaine Wilson

250 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 25, 2021

Reviews

[Colleen Winter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winsor has achieved another sweeping, intense historic novel that often times had me feeling the cold of the north wind or the rock of the fishing boat beneath me. The Healer's Journey is the follow-up to The Apprenticeship of Molly Chant and I was once again immersed in the wild, wonderful world of Newfoundland and Labrador earlier in the century.

This instalment focuses around Thomas Morley and his journey to grow into a man and to accept his powers to heal. Like the first book I thoroughly enjoyed the setting. Winsor beautifully evokes the rugged shores of the fishing town and the hardship of those that live there.

One of the remarkable features of this book is the deftness with which Winsor uses the dialect of the cove. As a reader you are immediately drawn into the language and it becomes as much a part of the story as many of the characters. Winsor's knowledge and the ease with which she speaks of the fisherman's life speak to her personal experience and to the character that it develops. It was a fascinating read to get a view into what their lives must have been like and the challenge it was sometimes simply to stay alive.

True to Winsor's earlier work, she doesn't shy away from tough luck or difficulties (Janey!) and it is a harrowing path that Thomas must take to claim who he is to himself and to the people of the cove. There are several twists in the book that I won't spoil but I did not see them coming but when they did they made perfect sense.

This is a strong follow up to The Apprenticeship of Molly Chant and I look forward to the next which continues to follow the lives of these unique, resilient people in an often harsh world.

[Regina Avery · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent series

This series has really drawn me in. I couldn’t put it down.
I like that it is about the way of life in a small isolated place in Newfoundland.