Music almost always does it for you.
After a long day, nothing makes you feel better than music – especially when you pair soft tunes with a hot bath and solitude. You might even add a glass of something tasty and a novel you’ve been dying to read. But in the new book Balm by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, the only thing able to sooth is forgiveness and restitution.
Moving to Chicago had never been part of Sadie’s plan.
She’d supposed, instead, that she’d live in Pennsylvania after the War ended, and go on with her life as though there had never been a war. However, her parents saw things differently. They hastily married her to a wealthy man she barely knew, because they thought she would be safer that way. Sam, her new husband, purchased a house in Chicago, furnished it and hired staff in anticipation of having a wife to display. Sadie might have even fallen in love with him, had he not been killed in a train accident.
She couldn’t mourn; she had barely known Sam. Her lack of emotion made the staff uncomfortable, and as they deserted her, Sadie knew she needed a maid. The voice in her head – an insistent voice that said he was a soldier once – sent her to Madge.
Born to a woman who was more interested in being a root doctor than in being a mother, Madge had left her Tennessee home as a teenager. Though she was unloved by her Mama, she knew how to use plants and seeds to heal. She couldn’t say she liked working for Sadie, but assisting with séances left Madge with plenty of time to build her apothecary and get a little business. It also gave her time to spend guiltily with Hemp Harrison, who said he was a married man.
Long before the day when raggedy Rebel soldiers came down the plantation road looking for trouble, Hemp had fallen for Annie and they had married. Though he’d done something unthinkable, his love for her was true. After she was sold away in chains, he vowed to find her and make things right.
With the War over, it was said that "millions" of former slaves had somehow landed in Chicago, but was Annie among them? Was it right to move on without her?
Set during America’s spiritualist movement of the post-Civil War years, Balm is a bit of surprise. It’s not exactly a love story, ghost story, nor a novel of amends, but is closer to all three, and that only works sometimes.
While it’s true that author Dolen Perkins-Valdez writes with extraordinary beauty, those flowingly gorgeous words can slow the story down, often marring the romantic aspect of it. I enjoyed the ghost storyline, which I found interesting and accurate, but the spirit’s brother annoyed me beyond all reason and left me feeling restless.
This isn’t a terrible book. It’s slow, but it has three great main characters going for it, and the overall authenticity will make historical fiction fans happy. But if you’re looking for something snappier and with more finality, Balm just won’t do it for you.
Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was three years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books. Readers with questions or comments may write to Terri in care of this publication.
