The Soldier and The Monk’s Tale

A wounded soldier of fortune journeys through medieval Wales towards a new beginning in ‘The Healing’. Author Joy Margetts talks to Paul Alkazraji about her new novel.






Tell us a little about your novel ‘The Healing’.

The Healing is part historical fiction and part spiritual journey. It is set in medieval Wales against the backdrop of Cistercian life, and is the story of how one man finds healing, of mind, body and soul. Philip de Braose is a man wounded by life. He finds an unusual friend and companion in a kind-hearted Cistercian monk, Brother Hywel, and together they journey back from France to his homeland in Wales. During that journey, and in his time immersed in Cistercian life, God draws Him back to Himself and gives him the grace to be able to confront and deal with his hurts and failures. Particularly through Hywel’s kind words and gentle ways, God does a redeeming work in Philip’s life and he emerges a changed man. He is ultimately able to return to his own world and become the man that God always intended him to be.

Is there an aspect of it you are particularly pleased with?

That is a hard question! I am pleased with it as a whole. I think it is a story with a gripping beginning, that moves seamlessly and engagingly to a satisfying end. But it is more than a well told tale, it is a story of healing and redemption that mirrors my own experience. As that, it is a genuine portrayal of what God can do to heal and restore any one of us. It is truthful and truth- filled, and I believe carries hope.

Share with us a sentence of your choice from the book,

‘We willed you to choose life, and you did. Now, Philip, I am urging you to choose hope. You can let the despair take you, or you can choose another way.’

Tell us about something you like or dislike in one of your characters.

I love Brother Hywel’s sense of humour and ready smile. He is kind and wise but not pious in any way. He is just a very good man… in fact one of the most Christ-like people I have ever met! And yet very relatable and human.













Tell us a little about yourself.

I am a fifty-something mother of two grown children, eagerly expecting my first grandchild in the spring. My husband and I live, together with a feisty Jack Russell, on the beautiful North Wales Coast, with stunning views from our home of sea and mountains. In a previous existence I was a nurse/midwife but left that to pursue other things. Local church is very important to me, and I have the privilege of being able to regularly teach the Word of God, and run our very own in house Bible Academy. I have always loved writing, but never in my wildest dreams have I ever believed that I would have a novel that I had written published.

How does your faith influence your writing?

This book really wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my relationship with God. As I said, the message of the book is taken directly from the things I had to learn, and re-learn during a really difficult time in my life, when my health unexpectedly failed. God was so kind and gracious to me in surrounding me with friends who were like Brother Hywel to me. They prayed when I could not, spoke the truth with love, and showed me how much God cared about what I was going through, when I couldn’t hear His voice for myself. God has restored me as He did Philip, and is continuing His healing work in me. I believe The Healing is part of my redemption. I lost many things due to my illness, but bit by bit God has given back far more than was stolen from me. This book is God’s gift to me, and I have given it back to Him. I pray that it will be a gift, from God, to many others too.

Tell us about something you’ve read recently that moved you.

The Treasure Man by Joy Vee is a children’s book but with a profound message. I read it to review it but it spoke so deeply to me! It deals with two really powerful truths that the children in the story have grasped so readily: that we are really precious to God, and that we can hear His voice easily for ourselves. It moved me because as adults we can sometimes find it hard to accept those simplest of truths. We make our faith so complicated at times when God calls us to have a simple childlike faith.

What are you most thankful for in life?

Love. God’s unfathomable love for me. The constancy of the love of my (longsuffering) family and friends. The privilege of being able to share God’s love with others.

What makes you laugh?

The dog – when he is not winding me up!















The Healing will be published by Instant Apostle on 19th March.

You can order a signed copy direct from the author at www.joymargetts.com where you will also find out more about the book, and how it came to be written, as well as some historical background.

By the interviewer: