The Desert Healer

by Edith Maude Hull

The Desert Healer (1923) is a romance novel by English author E.M. Hull. Hull’s novel The Sheikh (1919) sold millions of copies following the release of a 1921 film of the same name. Part of a tradition of Orientalist fiction, The Desert Healer , alongside The Sheik and its sequel, The Sons of the Sheik (1925), have proven both controversial and popular, and now serve as a reminder of the ways in which British subjects imagined themselves in relation to the colonial world. Abandoned by his wife, heartbroken at the loss of his child, Carew has taken to the desert to work as a mercenary, healer, and mediator between local authority figures. Content to live as a shadow of his former self, Carew forsakes Western civilization for the limitlessness and anonymity of the Algerian desert. Journeying on horseback one day, he hears the screams of a woman in the midst of being kidnapped, and reluctantly saves her life. Disheveled and barely conscious, Marny Gerardine, an Englishwoman, asks for her savior’s name. Pretending to be an Arab, Carew maintains his disguise and, after a night spent resting in his shelter, brings the woman home to Algiers. There, she fears the return of her abusive husband Clyde, who will find a way―as always―to blame her for the attack. Recalling the kindness of her gentle rescuer, she wonders if he is thinking of her, if they will see one another once more. The Desert Healer is romance novel by a master of English popular fiction. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of E.M. Hull’s The Desert Healer is a classic of English romance fiction reimagined for modern readers.

Genres: Historical Fiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1922

About the author

See also E.M. Hull.

Reviews

[Dorcas]

So this was completely pot luck. I found it at an antique store for two bucks and took a gamble. Its not literature, you know? But its a diversion and makes a good palate cleanser between meatier fare.

In my book, there are three black and white screenplay plates, but don't get excited. Hollywood being what it is, none of the scenes depicted in the screenshots actually occurred in the book. Ha!

Anyway, the storyline. A Rory Frost-type character (M.M. Kaye' s Trade Wind) hides himself in the Algerian desert after his faithless wife leaves him and his child dies. He basically "goes native" but not having lost his love for country, he acts as mediator between governments and Arabian tribes. Officially, however he is a desert doctor.

Having been burned in love, he hates women and no female is allowed near his dwellings. But one night, on galloping past a deserted ruin, he hears a woman screaming for help in English. He rescues the damsel who is near to being ravished and/or killed by a villanous Arab and he takes her to her home.

As it turns out, the girl is married to a horrible brute of a man not much better than her attacker. But married she stays until...unless...

Can treachery, sandstorms, past heartache and hate thwart two destined to love?

CONTENT:
Thematic elements: domestic abuse, lust
MY RATING: Mild PG

If you decide to read this I hope you can avoid the earworms that plagued me. "Midnight at the oasis" and "Sheik of Araby"

[BURMA]

Soy incondicional de esta autora. El libro está bien, el personaje es de la misma forma de ser que los de sus dos otros libros (The Sheikh y The Shadow of the East) pero esta historia es de nivel algo menor. Aún así, un placer leerla. El exotismo del paisaje se imbrica en la historia de los dos protagonistas de manera creíble y real. Otro libro de Hull muy recomendable. Y nada ñoño, por cierto.

[Claire Scorzi]

Boa ideia inicial, desperdiçada pelas repetições desnecessárias e pelos exageros.