Healer

Payne is a member of a minority offshoot of humanity called Grotesques who are distinguished by a cranial deformity and an extra orifice in their chests. A small percentage of these people have the ability to effect phenomenal healings, but they are treated as possessions and slaves. Blumlein brings his experience as a practicing physician to bear in this novel, which subtly and beautifully examines the ways in which society both reveres and fears members of the medical profession. "The Healer" is a story of human life and death, human rites and rituals, seen through the eyes of an outsider. In the vein of such authors as Jonathan Lethem, this book is a literate, philosophical, and entertaining read