The Healing Spell is set in Cajun country in the swamps and bayous of Louisiana, and it’s a book about repentance, confession, courage, forgiveness, and of course healing. Incorporating all of those themes is a tall order for one book, and Ms. Little almost pulls it off.

Livie’s mama is in a coma, victim of the sleeping sickness as Livie calls it, and no one knows whether Mama will ever awaken from her unnatural sleep. What’s even worse is that only Livie knows that Mama’s accident was Livie’s fault. And since Livie’s fairly sure that entire family, including Mama, hates her, Livie is not about to tell anyone what really happened the day that Mama fell and hit her head and went into a coma.

The book begins rather slowly, and I would have given up had I not been intrigued enough to want to know Livie’s secret. I loved the parts of the book about finding good memories and getting rid of the bad ones and the reconciliation between Livie and her older sister Faye. The descriptions of life in southern Louisiana were vivid and lovely. And the relationship between Livie and her mama was real and convincing. Livie is daddy’s girl, and she and her mama find it difficult to understand and tolerate each other’s differences, even though the love that underlies their relationship is as palpable as it is complicated.

Livie herself is a lot like Charlie Anne in The Wonder of Charlie Anne. Livie is convinced that her mama doesn’t like her because Livie prefers fishing and frogging and paddling her pirogue on the bayou to dressing up and parties and painting pictures like her mama does. Livie’s a bit sassy, often in trouble, and something of a loner. I liked her character and her determination to help her mama in spite of their mutual misunderstanding of one another.

Unfortunately, the ending of the story was not as satisfying as the first three-fourths of the book. I couldn’t figure out if the final scenes in the story were Livie’s imagination or premonitions or supposed reality. If it was the latter, I didn’t believe it. I’m not sure what would have made a better ending for this story in which the entire plot, and even the title, lead readers to hope for complete healing for Livie’s mama, but I didn’t like the ending I got. Just sayin’.

Other takes:
Sandra Stiles: “This story was wonderful and all about forgiveness. I believe it will touch your heart the way it touched mine.”