Jacob's Hands A Fable

Isherwood, Christopher & Aldous Huxley

ISBN 10: 0312243065 / ISBN 13: 9780312243067

Published by St. Martin's Griffin, 1999

4.98 X 0.475 X 7.02 inches; 142 pages. Seller Inventory # 28860

Synopsis:

In a lost novel by the authors of Brave New World and The Berlin Stories, respectively, a young ranch hand discovers that he has the power to heal, but when he cures a manipulative woman, she betrays him and begins a chain of events that will lead to the exploitation of his powers. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

From the Publisher: Description
Jacob Ericson is a shy, enigmatic, and somewhat inept ranch hand who works for crotchety Professor Carter and his crippled daughter, Sharon, on a ranch in California's Mojave Desert in the 1920s.

One day he learns that his hands possess the mysterious gift of healing, a gift he uses to cure animals (whom he adores). Sharon (whom he also adores) then persuades him to heal her.

When he successfully cures Sharon, his gift is quickly exploited and the boundaries of his charm and naïveté begin to stretch. First he offers his healing powers for free at a church in Los Angeles-where Jacob has gone after Sharon, who fled her father and the ranch to pursue he dreams of stardom. Jacob and Sharon cross paths when they work for the same pair of exploitative showmen. Jacob stays with the seedy stage show only because Sharon is close by.

It is when Jacob's gift is recruited to heal Earl Medwin, an eccentric, ailing young millionaire, that the love and security for which he has worked so hard begin to collapse.

This previously unpublished tale by Aldous Huxley (BRAVE NEW WORLD) and Christopher Isherwood (GOOD-BYE TO BERLIN), two of the greatest storytellers of the twentieth century, uses tight, vivid, and seamlessly crafted prose to show the dangers that a magical gift will undoubtedly bring to even the sincerest of characters.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Jacob's Hands A Fable
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: 1999
Binding: Paperback
Condition: New
Book Type: Book