The New York Times-bestselling author of Wench returns with a "deeply moving" tale of love, healing, and magical gifts in post-Civil War Chicago (USA Today).

The Civil War has ended, and Madge, Sadie, and Hemp have each come to Chicago in search of a new life. Madge was born with the power to discern others' suffering, but to mend her own damaged heart, she must return to Tennessee to face the women healers who rejected her as a child. Sadie can commune with the dead, but until she makes peace with her father, she, too, cannot fully engage her gift. Searching for his missing family, Hemp arrives in this northern city that shimmers with possibility.


In the bitter aftermath of a terrible, bloody war, as a divided nation tries to come together once again, Madge, Sadie, and Hemp will be caught in a desperate battle for survival in a community that years to lay the pain of the past to rest. Beautiful in its historical atmosphere and emotional depth, Balm is an ""elegantly crafted [novel that] captures the fierce energy, diversity, and suffering of Civil War-era Chicago" (Publishers Weekly).

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• Literature & FictionUnited StatesBlack & African AmericanHistorical
• Literature & FictionUnited States
• Literature & FictionBlack & African AmericanHistorical

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