The Healing

THE FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

''A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers'' TAYARI JONES

''The novel''s richness lies in its entertaining meandering, and the vitality of its spoken rhythms'' MAYA JAGGI, GUARDIAN

''A moving affirmation of forgiveness and trust . . . The Healing should be cause for hope, sustenance and even celebration'' VALERIE SAYERS, NEW YORK TIMES

Harlan Jane Eagleton is a faith healer, travelling to small towns, converting sceptics, restoring minds and bodies. But before that she was a rock star''s manager and race-track gambler. She''s had a fling with her rock star''s ex-husband and along the way she''s somehow lost her own husband - a medical anthropologist now travelling with a medicine woman in Africa. Harlan tells her story from the end backwards, drawing us ever deeper into her world and the mystery at the heart of her tale - the story of her first healing.