The Healer's Daughter by Myriana Merkovic; Bewitching Historical Fiction About A 17th Century Healer and Witch

 The Healer's Daughter by Myriana Merkovic; Bewitching Historical Fiction About A 17th Century Healer and Witch

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: The Healer's Daughter by Myriana Merkovic casts a spell on its Reader. It is a bewitching Historical Fiction novel about a healer and witch in 17th century North America.

In 1692, Naida Galene and her mother, Zephyr, had to flee Andover, Massachusetts when accusers from the Salem Witch Trials went witch hunting. They escape to Charles Town, South Carolina to start a new life. After Zephyr dies en route, Naida takes to the woods to live in solitude around nature. Her reputation as a healer is spread through word of mouth and she receives many loyal customers, particularly women, who visit her in secret. She also gets into a relationship with Ambrose Neville, a botanist and scientist. Unfortunately, she also meets with animosity from Sable, a local witch who doesn't like this new upstart and Lord Harrington, a nobleman who is suspicious of and lustful towards the young healer.

The Healer's Daughter is a brilliant character study of a woman who lives in the outer fringes of society and survives and even thrives because of her inner power. 

Naida comes from a long line of healers and witches who taught her everything she knows. Her family is a matrilineal line where power is inherited and taught from mother to daughter. Naida  not only remembers her mother, Zephyr, but her grandmother, Vesta, and other ancestors. She has inherited ancestral memories where she recalls their own experiences with different herbs and potions or the lessons that they taught their daughters.

 Some of their interactions consist of Naida remembering them and others are actual conversations with their spirits, especially Zephyr and Vesta. While she respects their authority and her lineage, Naida isn't afraid to call them out for their lifestyle choices and that they expect her to carry on the tradition even if it's emotionally difficult for her. Among those choices are to live completely alone and only have sex for procreation. If the child is a daughter, they must raise them by themselves in isolation (the son is returned to his father). 

When Naida weighs a romantic relationship with Ambrose, she wants to break the tradition to find a way to use her abilities while being happily married and openly involved with the community. She is someone who isn't afraid to question society and tradition, even when they are hers.

There are plenty of moments where Naida and her family help people with their healing experiences. She recalls many women going to Grandma Vesta for help with insomnia, pregnancy, or keeping their abusive drunk husbands away from them. She also bitterly remembers that these same women would either turn a blind eye or actively take part in the trials that would send her grandmother to her death and then run Naida and Zephyr out of town. 

Naida herself uses her hedge witch abilities to help others. She treats Ambrose's injury which attracts him but also makes him suspicious where she learned her healing skills. She also helps soothe a pregnant woman’s physical and mental health. 

One of the more traumatic moments occurs when a woman asks Naida for an abortifacient because she has several young children and an abusive husband. Naida has her own internal conflict with the request. She knows that this procedure could result in her arrest and the woman could get hurt or even murdered by her husband. But the woman's health becomes the most important deciding factor and she respects her choice, so she helps her.

There are strong conflicts between Naida and the society that surrounds her. Anytime that Naida interacts with Sable, the sardonic and potentially psychopathic town outsider who has her own bad reputation, Naida faces suspicions that she's in a witch's coven. Whenever she gets into an argument with Ambrose using her natural personally trained healing magic against his scientific education and training, the information points towards training in witchcraft. Above all Lord Harrington has his own vested interest in accusing the young woman, so he gathers his own evidence.

Naida knows that she is going to arouse curiosity and accusations no matter what she does, then she might as well be herself. She might as well do what she is trained to do. If they call her a witch, then a witch is who she will be. This self-awareness is what strengthens her as she faces accusers, her family legacy, and has to decide how to live her life.

The Healer's Daughter is a compelling outlook at what life was like for independent women in the 17th century and how they often became outsiders and accused witches. That this woman is actually a witch is neither here nor there. 

Naida is using her abilities to heal people, create medicines and remedies, consult and advise others. 

There are some implications that the male government establishment is threatened by her knowledge. She is a woman outside the community box and they can't place her or fit her inside. As with many women throughout history, if they can't place her and can't force her to conform, then they will do everything they can to silence her. But Naida is a woman who resists being categorized and won't be silenced. She is from a family legacy of strength, independence, mindfulness, talent, and spirit.

 Naida is a truly bewitching presence throughout her fictional world and to the Reader.