I loved everything about this book! It kept me turning the pages and I actually appreciate it how the story went back-and-forth in time until both of the stories met in the middle. There is a lot here about healing, loss, grief, death, love, relationships, marriage, and the power of women, and all of it is written beautifully and with tenderness and consideration.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Moonlight Healers by Elizabeth Becker is a heart wrenching story about a family of healers who can take pain away from those suffering, but their special gift comes with a heavy price, one that will force the women of the Winston family to bargain with fate.

This story follows generations of the Winston women, first with Helene, a young French nurse who discovers her healing ability while serving in a war hospital in France during the second world war. When she touches someone in pain, she can take their pain away, drawing it out of them with her therapeutic touch. With only her mother's old journal of healing remedies to guide her on her healing journey, Helene will discover a deadly consequence to her ability. In modern day Appalachia, Louise the great-granddaughter of Helene, accidentally heals her friend back to life, setting her off on a journey to learn more about her family's healing magic. In this multi-generational tale, a family of women healers will learn the depths of pain and the true meaning of life and death.

I was very moved by this story about healing which I have not read much of before in fiction. There have been many books published recently that focus on folk healing in fiction, but this book's ideas were simpler and focused on the technique of laying on of the hands which is sometimes used in traditional healing settings, despite it being an alternative therapy. The author wrote about dying and suffering in an emotionally eloquent way that had me tear up at times. I loved the bits of magic, with the moon and an old grimoire type journal adding some whimsy and mystery to the plot. The author handled topics such as the trauma's of war and palliative care with respect, and her background as a nurse contributed to her sensitivity and grace of such topics. Despite all of that, I think the story could have incorporated the moonlight aspect more or even included additional magical components or even some background information on Louise's ancestors who first discovered their healing gifts to help balance out the heavy themes.

This story spoke to me on a deep level and I am so glad that I had the chance to read it. If you love magical realism stories or are a holistic health practitioner, or even someone who works in medicine, I would highly recommend The Moonlight Healers by Elizabeth Becker.

I wanted to finish this book, but unfortunately I found it triggering, so I made the decision to stop. The healing the book emphasizes is helping others go into death and ease their pain, and the tone is darker than I expected.

That’s to say my decision was not affected by the quality of the writing or the story. I could see this being a popular book club pick.