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A review by katy_bee
The Village Healer's Book of Cures by Jennifer Sherman Roberts
3.0
On the whole, I enjoyed this one. There's a touch of magic realism about it as it blends historical fact- and a historical figure- with fictional characters and touches of the "unexplained."
It felt like it had the potential of a 4 * book for me, as I liked the history and the theme of women finding power in the face of oppression. However, it never quite reached that point. At times the plot points seemed a little too convenient, in particular Mary's attending to or leaving Tom somewhere, felt a little forced.
I didn't guess all the twists and turns the story took, but I did want to know what happened next. Mary and Agnes, and Mrs Chamberlen were all pretty well drawn and I thought the treatment of characters with a disability was fairly sensitive to the likely prejudice of the time, while not condoning it. I have read a couple of historical books where it feels like the author agrees with the stereotyped view of disabled people from the time period and writes them as though the way they're seen was accurate (looking at you Susannah Gregory...) so it was nice that it was mostly resisted here.
The historical notes at the end were excellent and I would like to know more about the time period
It felt like it had the potential of a 4 * book for me, as I liked the history and the theme of women finding power in the face of oppression. However, it never quite reached that point. At times the plot points seemed a little too convenient, in particular Mary's attending to or leaving Tom somewhere, felt a little forced.
I didn't guess all the twists and turns the story took, but I did want to know what happened next. Mary and Agnes, and Mrs Chamberlen were all pretty well drawn and I thought the treatment of characters with a disability was fairly sensitive to the likely prejudice of the time, while not condoning it. I have read a couple of historical books where it feels like the author agrees with the stereotyped view of disabled people from the time period and writes them as though the way they're seen was accurate (looking at you Susannah Gregory...) so it was nice that it was mostly resisted here.
The historical notes at the end were excellent and I would like to know more about the time period