Join Birch Tree Bookstore for a riveting discussion between local authors Elizabeth Becker and Katharine Schellman about Elizabeth Becker's new novel The Moonlight Healers.

About the book

A powerful debut with a magical twist about one woman's discovery of her family's secret healing abilities and the mysterious consequences she must contend with when she uses them on someone she loves.

"A profound tale of love, family legacy, secrets, and the extraordinary power within us all.... A deeply felt debut."

--PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea

For generations, the Winston women have possessed an unspoken magical gift: they can heal with the touch of a hand. It's a tradition they've always had to practice in secret, in the moonlight hours, when the fireflies dance and the whippoorwill birds sing.

But not every healer has rightfully passed on this knowledge to her descendants, and for young Louise Winston, the discovery of her abilities comes in less-than-ideal circumstances--she brings her best friend back from death following an accident, the day after he professed his long-held feelings for her, five days before she's supposed to move away.

Desperate for answers, and to avoid this new reality between them, Louise escapes to her grandmother's lush Appalachian orchard. There, she uncovers her family's hidden history in a tattered journal, stemming back to her brave great-grandmother who illicitly healed Allied soldiers in war-torn France. But just as Louise begins to embrace her unique legacy, she learns that it can also come with a mysterious cost. And with a life hanging in the balance, she'll be forced to make the most impossible of choices...

Spanning eighty years, The Moonlight Healers is a deeply empathetic, heartfelt novel about mothers and daughters, life and death, and the beautiful resilience of love.

About the author

ELIZABETH BECKER is a former pediatric nurse and Pushcart Prize-nominated writer. She has worked as a correspondent for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times Dispatch, and her award-winning essays have been featured on national sites including Motherwell, Scary Mommy, Motherly, Swamp Pink (formerly Crazy Horse), and Winning Writers. She received a degree in creative writing from the College of Charleston before earning a bachelor's degree in nursing. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband and four young children. Find her on Instagram, @elizabethbeckerauthor.

About the moderator

KATHARINE SCHELLMAN is a former actor, one-time political consultant, and current writer. Her debut novel, The Body in the Garden, was a Suspense Magazine Best Book of 2020 and led to her being named one of BookPage's 16 Women to Watch. A graduate of the College of William & Mary, Katharine currently lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia in the company of her husband, children, and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.