Manroot Book Review

Manroot

By Anne Steinberg

In the spring of 1939, Katherine Sheahan and her father, the taciturn Irishman Jesse, are looking for work in the isolated tourist town of Castlewood, Missouri, which offers bathing, gambling and adultery. Jesse gets a job as handyman and Katherine as maid at a small hotel. Jesse drinks and neglects his work and eventually disappears, abandoning his daughter. Katherine discovers the ginseng, the manroot, and other secrets of the foothills; she discovers herself as a natural healer who has inherited this gift from her Navajo Indian mother. She also has a special but unwelcome gift. She can communicate with spirits.

Among the hotel's regular clientele is Judge William Reardon, a local hero who metes out justice by day, then drinks the foul taste away at night. Escaping his sterile marriage, he becomes captivated by Katherine. He is like a man reborn. Theirs is a union of like-minded souls, but a dangerous dark magic is released. Can their love survive?

A powerful, haunting novel that explores the powerful themes of identity and destiny, love everlasting and its brutal twin, violence.

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MY REVIEW

Katherine was born under a bad star. She lost her mother to madness when she was a small child, so she was raised by her father, Jesse. Her grandmother, who was a full-blooded Navajo, instilled in her how to be one with nature. Katherine and her father moved around a lot, mainly because of his drinking and not being able to keep a job. When they happen upon work at a hotel in Castlewood, Katherine was more than happy to put up with the gruff cook and learn everything she could from her. Katherine loved working there and hoped to never leave. But how long will it last before Jesse’s drinking is discovered?

This book had a good plot with well-rounded characters. It started a little slow but picked up pretty quick. I liked how the natural ways of the Navajo were woven throughout. It was easy to feel Katherine’s loneliness and her feelings of betrayal. Even though she never felt sorry for herself, I couldn’t help but feel it for her. I could feel her misery as well. This was an interesting story, and I loved the spooky elements scattered throughout. I believe that there are things beyond our understanding, and this book was quick to emphasize that. 

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**The above opinions are 100% my own, whether I purchased the book or it was given to me to review.

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