The Hand That Heals

There are encounters that leave an indelible mark on our memory and our body, encounters that change us profoundly or, perhaps, simply reveal who we really are. That is what happens to the young Soledad when she meets Ana Gregoria, her schoolteacher, from whom she will learn to make spells, charms and potions. To call silence upon herself so as not to be seen or heard. To master the souls in purgatory. Because little Soledad has the healing touch. Many years later, her daughter Lina will discover that she too has the healing touch and, after the death of her father, an unknown force will compel her to seek out Ana Gregoria, now an old woman, to find answers in an increasingly dark and impenetrable world.The Hand That Heals speaks of powers, witchcraft and superstitions that are passed on in secret. Of grief and death, of the desire to start a family. It speaks of magic and science, and how everything is the same thing. Because ‘One is nothing. One is a channel through which what is true passes.’With echoes of Amparo Dávila and Mariana Enríquez, Colombian writer Lina María Parra Ochoa’s debut novel explores the complexity of emotional bonds, the weight of tradition and our connection with nature in a text charged with telluric tension that will enchant lovers of the supernatural.