Healer

Praise for
healer
by Carol Cassella

“A smart second novel. . . . Cassella excels at dialogue and creating distinctly colorful minor characters. . . . Cassella’s writing about medical care and ethics, pharmaceutical drug development and the conditions of migrant workers’ lives is moving and sophisticated; let’s hope this doctor has more stories to tell.”

—
The Seattle Times

“
Healer
has much to recommend it. Claire and Addison’s relationship is rocked not by infidelity, but by their attitudes toward money. It’s a theme rarely explored in fiction these days, even as many people with lavish lifestyles find themselves in trouble with their mortgages. Cassella paints a clear picture of Hallum and its surroundings. Supporting characters, particularly in the medical clinic, shine. Cassella, a working anesthesiologist, has a keen ear and uses it to great effect to create realistic situations in which to place a nerve-racked Claire.”

—
The Oregonian

“
Healer
is a story of steadfastness in the face of quiet desperation, of staying afloat in a sea of uncertainty simply because there is no other choice. Anesthesiologist Carol Cassella draws on both her professional and personal knowledge to propel the story of a family whose lives are on the ropes. . . . Cassella writes like a dream, with language that is lyrical and direct without being sparse. When she writes of Claire’s worry, and her struggles to find a way forward given the hand life has dealt, it’s personal . . . this is where
Healer
finds its resonance. Claire must find her way through changed economics, a story many will find familiar. . . . And Claire’s search for a new path is a redemptive journey, for Claire and for the reader.”

—
The Denver Post

“Carol Cassella provides her engrossing second novel,
Healer
, with the kind of issues over trust that any couple could have. Cassella is especially good at conveying all the frustration, embarrassment and disappointment that Claire feels as she tries to settle into a temporary life in Hallam. Her medical background obviously helped with her first novel,
Oxygen
, and it helps again as she describes Claire’s halting attempts to make her way into the medical community of this resort town.”

—The Dallas Morning News

“In her second novel,
Healer
, Carol Cassella draws upon her own medical background to lend credence to the fast-paced, emotionally moving story of family relationships and sacrifices. It is easy to admire Cassella’s depiction of the strength of her characters Claire and Miguela, both mothers trying to do their best for their daughters. . . . Cassella’s creative storytelling makes
Healer
a novel that is a pleasure to read.”

—Fresh Fiction

“Carol Cassella’s sophomore novel is already attracting attention. Following her excellent medical drama
Oxygen, Healer
also touches upon the issue of immigration, while unraveling an intriguing mystery that lives up to the promise of her debut.”

—
CultureMob

“Claire Boehning faces a bleak future when her privileged life ends abruptly in Cassella’s second novel (after
Oxygen
). Cassella (a real-life doctor) takes a hard look at a faulty health-care system to illustrate the power of money and class in this timely and multifaceted novel.”

—Publishers Weekly

“It’s tough to follow a spectacular debut like
Oxygen
, Carol Cassella’s striking first novel, with an even stronger second novel, but she’s done it with
Healer
. There are no blatant good guys and bad guys in
Healer
, no simple blacks and whites. Cassella’s characters come in myriad shades of gray that make up the complex psyche of all human beings. And when money competes with good intentions, Cassella doesn’t shy away from negotiating the murky ethical areas where profit and altruism collide, weaving questions of immigration, health care, and the power of big pharma into a page turning drama. I highly recommend this compelling new book by this remarkable author.”

—Garth Stein, author of
The Art of Racing in the Rain

“A deeply powerful story about the intricate intersection of marriage, motherhood, and career. Clear-eyed and compassionate, Carol Cassella takes her readers on the roller-coaster ride of a marriage and family shaken by financial upheaval.”

—Erica Bauermeister, author of
The School of Essential Ingredients

“
Healer
contains absolutely everything I love in a book—a strong, sympathetic female character, suspense that keeps you turning pages, and a deep and nuanced understanding of love. Cassella’s book is brilliant on all fronts. It is one of the most gripping and ingeniously crafted novels I have read this year.”

—Elin Hilderbrand,
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Castaways

Also by Carol Cassella

Oxygen

S
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CHUSTER
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APERBACKS
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2010 by Carol Wiley Cassella

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Simon & Schuster Paperbacks Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition June 2011

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Manufactured in the United States of America

1   3   5   7   9   10   8   6   4   2

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Cassella, Carol Wiley.

Healer / Carol Wiley Cassella

p. cm.

1. Single women—Fiction. 2. Anesthesiologists—Fiction.

3. Seattle (Wash.)—Fiction.

PS3603.A8684 O99 2008

813'.622 2007037542

ISBN 978-1-4165-5612-1

ISBN 978-1-4165-5614-5 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-4391-8040-2 (ebook)

For Kathie and Ray, who showed me
what marriage can be

healer

Content

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Acknowledgments

• 1 •

The body is a miracle, the way it heals. A factory of survival and self-repair. As soon as flesh is cut, cells spontaneously begin to divide and knit themselves into a protective scar. A million new organic bonds bridge the broken space, with no judgment passed on the method of injury. In her residency, Claire had treated a trauma patient who’d felt only one quick tug, looked down at her severed hand and wondered to whom on earth it might belong; even pain can be stunned into silence by the imperative to live.

As many years as it has been, Claire still understands the human body. She understands the involuntary mechanics of healing. But how an injured marriage heals—that remains a mystery.

This house feels so cold. Claire’s fingers had been a shocking white from the knuckles to the tips after she stripped off her gloves when they finished unloading the U-Haul a few hours ago. She should be somewhat warmer by now, indoors, but it’s as if the cold has worked its way into her core and radiates outward, chilling the room. They haven’t been out to the house since summer, and dust coats every surface; seed-shaped mouse droppings dot the sofa cushions and countertops. The pallid light seeping through the windows seems too weak to hold color; everything in the room is muted to a shade of gray.

Jory sits on a cardboard box with her arms hugged across her
stomach, her hair draped around her shoulders. “When is Dad getting here?” she asks.

“Between business trips. He’ll come as soon as he can.” Claire says this calmly, soothingly, the way she tries to say everything to Jory these days; announcing breakfast cereal choices and packing instructions as if they were salves, verbal Vicodin or Xanax. She kneels to open the door on the cast-iron woodstove and crumples newspaper between broken sticks, watching Jory without watching. Hunting for other emotions behind her sullen anger. Claire strikes a match, shelters it inside her cupped palm until it burns plump and dependable, touches it to an edge of newsprint and a week of stock quotes flames into hot orange light. The smoke stings her eyes, she squints and closes the thick glass door, toggles the metal lever of the damper until the sluggish air inside the chimney rouses and twists silver-gray tendrils up into the night.