{"product_id":"the-touch-a-novel","title":"The Touch: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eNot since The Thorn Birds has Colleen McCullough written a novel of such broad appeal about a family and the Australian experience as The Touch.  At its center is Alexander Kinross  remembered as a young man in his native Scotland only as a shiftless boilermakers apprentice and a godless rebel. But when  years later  he writes from Australia to summon his bride  his Scottish relatives quickly realize that he has made a fortune in the goldfields and is now a man to be reckoned with.  Arriving in Sydney after a difficult voyage  the sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Drummond meets her husband-to-be and discovers to her dismay that he frightens and repels her. Offered no choice  she marries him and is whisked at once across a wild  uninhabited countryside to Alexanders own town  named Kinross after himself. In the crags above it lies the worlds richest gold mine.  Isolated in Alexanders great house  with no company save Chinese servants  Elizabeth finds that the intimacies of marriage do not prompt her husband to enlighten her about his past lifeor even his present one. She has no idea that he still has a mistress  the sensual  tough  outspoken Ruby Costevan  whom Alexander has established in his town  nor that he has also made Ruby a partner in his company  rapidly expanding its interests far beyond gold. Ruby has a son  Lee  whose father is the head of the beleaguered Chinese community; the boy becomes dear to Alexander  who fosters his education as a gentleman.  Captured by the very different natures of Elizabeth and Ruby  Alexander resolves to have both of them. Why should he not? He has the fabled Midas Toucha combination of curiosity  boldness  and intelligence that he applies to every situation  and which fails him only when it comes to these two women.  Although Ruby loves Alexander desperately  Elizabeth does not. Elizabeth bears him two daughters: the brilliant Nell  so much like her father; and the beautiful  haunting Anna  who is to present her father with a torment out of which for once he cannot buy his way. Thwarted in his desire for a son  Alexander turns to Rubys boy as a possible heir to his empire  unaware that by keeping Lee with him  he is courting disaster.  The stories of the lives of Alexander  Elizabeth  and Ruby are intermingled with those of a rich cast of characters  and  after many twists and turns  come to a stunning and shocking climax. Like The Thorn Birds  Colleen McCulloughs new novel is at once a love story and a family saga  replete with tragedy  pathos  history  and passion. As few other novelists can  she conveys a sense of place: the desperate need of her characters  men and women  rootless in a strange land  to create new beginnings.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44948441137205,"sku":"ByrdShop_0671024191","price":26.65,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780671024192.jpg?v=1770045315","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-touch-a-novel","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}