Achill

Set against the devastating backdrop of the Biafran War (1967–1970)—where two million civilians, most of them children, died of starvation—this powerful novel draws on the little-known story of Ireland’s humanitarian response. While much of the world turned away, Irish missionaries remained, establishing feeding centres and clinics. When their last supply route was cut off, they carved an airstrip from the bush, risking everything to smuggle in aid and evacuate dying children.

Before the war, before Africa, Valerie Corrigan believed her life would follow a different path. In Ireland, she breaks off her engagement after discovering her fiancé’s betrayal and returns to a calling she once set aside: missionary work. Sent to Eastern Nigeria as a nurse, Valerie arrives determined to serve—and to convert. But as she struggles to adapt to an unfamiliar land and culture, whispers of unrest begin to grow.

When war erupts, Valerie’s certainty begins to fracture. Among the people she was sent to change, she finds unexpected grace and humanity. Within her own mission, she witnesses moral compromise. And when her former lover, Oscar, reappears, the life she thought she had left behind collides with the one she has chosen.

At the heart of it all is Azubuike, a young boy displaced by violence and loss, who finds refuge—and a fragile sense of belonging—under Valerie’s care. But as the conflict tightens its grip, innocence is consumed, loyalties are tested, and impossible choices must be made.

As famine spreads and the war closes in, Valerie is forced to decide not only what she believes—but who will live, and who will die.

A sweeping, intimate story inspired by real events, The Healer’s War is a haunting exploration of faith, love, and the impossible moral burdens carried in times of war.