Balm: A Novel
Dolen Perkins-Valdez
May 2015 · HarperCollins
3.9star
7 reviews
eBook
293
Pages
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Eligible
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About this eBook
The New York Times–bestselling author of Wench returns with a “deeply moving” tale of love, healing, and magical gifts in post-Civil War Chicago (USA Today).
The Civil War has ended, and Madge, Sadie, and Hemp have each come to Chicago in search of a new life. Madge was born with the power to discern others’ suffering, but to mend her own damaged heart, she must return to Tennessee to face the women healers who rejected her as a child. Sadie can commune with the dead, but until she makes peace with her father, she, too, cannot fully engage her gift. Searching for his missing family, Hemp arrives in this northern city that shimmers with possibility.
In the bitter aftermath of a terrible, bloody war, as a divided nation tries to come together once again, Madge, Sadie, and Hemp will be caught in a desperate battle for survival in a community that years to lay the pain of the past to rest. Beautiful in its historical atmosphere and emotional depth, Balm is an ““elegantly crafted [novel that] captures the fierce energy, diversity, and suffering of Civil War-era Chicago” (Publishers Weekly).
The Civil War has ended, and Madge, Sadie, and Hemp have each come to Chicago in search of a new life. Madge was born with the power to discern others’ suffering, but to mend her own damaged heart, she must return to Tennessee to face the women healers who rejected her as a child. Sadie can commune with the dead, but until she makes peace with her father, she, too, cannot fully engage her gift. Searching for his missing family, Hemp arrives in this northern city that shimmers with possibility.
In the bitter aftermath of a terrible, bloody war, as a divided nation tries to come together once again, Madge, Sadie, and Hemp will be caught in a desperate battle for survival in a community that years to lay the pain of the past to rest. Beautiful in its historical atmosphere and emotional depth, Balm is an ““elegantly crafted [novel that] captures the fierce energy, diversity, and suffering of Civil War-era Chicago” (Publishers Weekly).
Ratings and reviews
3.9
7 reviews
Paris Lipsey-Coley
- Flag inappropriate
26 February 2016
I did not feel the same connection with this book as I did Wench. It was decent enough, but still missing substance.
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Wench. In 2011 she was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for fiction. She was also awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, D.C. @Dolen / dolenperkinsvaldez.com
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