“The Good Healer”
Author: Dimitrije Medenica
Recently I came across the title “The Good Healer” by author Dimitrije Medenica. I read the book’s premise: a six-fingered healer practicing medicinal arts with the aid of local plant-life meets fifteenth century Catholic religion. Accusations of heresy abound because the only “allowed” manner of doctoring is the barbaric custom of bloodletting and consequently Jean Duchesne, the book’s main character, must flee for his life or perish at the stake. I am always interested in historical fiction and I found myself immediately intrigued by the summary.
A couple of days later I received my copy of “The Good Healer” found myself a nice quiet place and began to read. First off, I have to say that I was very impressed with both the author’s writing style as well as the content of the book. The author, Medenica, has more than a decade of architectural and real estate development experience. Truthfully I was concerned that the story would either be over-explained or just plain uninteresting. I’m happy to report it was neither…
Medenica does a wonderful job of personalizing each character. His writing is descriptively detailed but not to the point of becoming boring or verbose. I definitely appreciated the historical aspect of “The Good Healer” especially the parts pertaining to Geneva since I have visited that city. I also thought Medenica did an excellent job with the religious aspects of the book; for the most part they seemed to hold true to history as it has been handed down to us through the centuries. The medicinal and architectural achievements were definitely out of place but I do understand this is a work of fiction, historical or not, and the embellishments made for a better story.
When I’m reading a book for review there are a few criteria I consider such as writing style, character development and the overall plot. For writing style and character development I’m giving Medenica five-stars but the plot aspect featuring twentieth century technology in fifteenth century Switzerland threw me for a loop therefore I’m giving “The Good Healer” an overall four-star rating. In summary: an interesting look at Medieval / Renaissance history. I would also recommend this book to readers of all ages.