The Touch: A Novel

I could not wait to read this after running across it in a library while running errands for a 'client'. The author never disappoints! The condition of the item and the delivery were. without question, exceptional! Thanks!

I read Colleen McCullough's THE THORN BIRDS long before it was a mini-series and thought it was a masterpiece. I haven't changed my mind because McCullough's novel about the universal human condition strikes a chord in most people. The passionate story, spanning three generations, describes the complex Clery family on a sheep ranch in Australia. One of the most memorable parts of the book is the forbidden love of Meggie and Ralph de Briscassart, a priest. McCullough is still a very good author, but THE TOUCH is a notch down from her other works. It simply lacks passion.
In the latter novel Andrew Kinross, after leaving his native Scotland as a youth, made a fortune in Australia in the late 1800s. Years later he wrote to a relative to send for his 16 year-old cousin, Elizabeth, to be his bride. After an arduous journey from Scotland, she arrived in Sydney. Upon seeing Andrew for the first time, she experienced revulsion, a feeling which remained throughout their long, loveless marriage.
At times glimpses of the old McCullough surface, especially when she graphically describes Jade's, the nursemaid, revenge for Anna's murder.
Most of the characters are not outstanding. Of them all, tough-talking, generous, Ruby, stands out. She serves in the unlikely position of Andrew's mistress and Elizabeth's best friend. Also the off-spring of the main characters fail to shine in any particular way.
If you want to be entertained rather than stirred, choose THE TOUCH.

I purchased this book as a paperback in a bookstore. It will stay in my library as a classic.
I dropped in to leave a five star review out of shock that so many people prefaced a one star review with 'I read and loved the Thorn Birds...' I got the distinct impression that most of those reviewers have never read anything by this great author other than The Thorn Birds and they seemed to expect that this book should be like the Thorn Birds and implied she wasn't as great an author because it wasn't like the Thorn Birds. I don't feel any book deserves a one star for originality.

And that is why I am here. To state that this writer is great because she does not churn out near identical plot lines. That is the mark of greatness not inferior writing. Colleen McCullough has 'the touch.' This is an excellently researched and written historical novel which is, thankfully, nothing like the Thorn Birds, it is original.

You can discount some of the one star reviews as a plant, so obviously a set up to promote other authors as they plugged a mass production romance writer's book. Good authors do not need to spam their book in another author's review. Why does the store allow spam adds in reviews?

Colleen McCullough is a great writer. It was an interesting story and it had a great ending. Five stars.

Alexander Kinross is a proud Scot who, with his vast store of intelligence, leaves his home at age fifteen, travels around the world, and eventually arrives at the new continent of Australia (New South Wales) and founds a gold-mining town. He makes fortunes, but in order to secure his position in the world, he sends for a young Scottish bride, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Drummond. Elizabeth was raised in a devout Protestant village where she lived shielded from the outside world, so the move from Scotland to Australia is a tremendous eye-opener, both physically and mentally, for the young girl. From the start, Elizabeth takes a disliking to Alexander, but she performs her duties as a wife. No matter how hard Alexander tries to please his young wife, she is unresponsive, so he turns to his mistress, the seductive Ruby Costevan, for sexual comfort. The Kinrosses live in a grand mansion in the town of Kinross, but Elizabeth is not pleased by the material things that Alexander supplies her. Rather, she seeks someone that she can truly love. "How can I look into those diabolical eyes and tell their owner that he is not the husband I would choose?"

The book continues with daily life and hardships, including the birth of Eleanor (Nell) who is eerily similar to Alexander and poor Anna whose short life is, it itself, a great tragedy. The book poignantly covers a span of about thirty years, chronicling the hopes, the joys, and the misfortunes of the Kinrosses and the people surrounding them. The main characters come alive with rich descriptions and frequent dialogue. Alexander, despite his penchant for material success, is a character to be pitied because he truly realizes his mistakes with Elizabeth years into the marriage, and by then, Elizabeth has already given her heart away to someone. Although Elizabeth sometimes strikes me as meek, she bears so much suffering before she finally attains true happiness near the end of the novel. If the reader does not find their lives interesting, there are also Nell, Anna, and Ruby's illegitimate son Lee whose stories can be a book in its own. Nell is too intelligent for her own good and strives to be a doctor, and Anna's life is cursed from the beginning. Lee is the handsome half-Chinese son whose heart is embroiled in a moral struggle.

There are some sections of the book that are downright dry and uninteresting. They are mainly the parts about historical events, but skipping the sections do not detract from the overall effect of the book.

The Touch is an emotional saga that focuses on the interwining of the Kinrosses and the Costevans. Some chapters are a bit verbose, but as a whole, I found this book to be an enjoyable read. There are cheerful moments, and there are heart-breaking moments. I hope the reader enjoys tracing their turbulent lives as much as I did.

I was surprised to see so many truly negative reviews of "The Touch." While not a great, classic work of literature, it is a reasonably entertaining book, pretty typical of its genre. It could have been a better book - the story is fascinating, and the characters have promise. I was disappointed in the fact that there was nothing between the two main characters, Alexander and Elizabeth - no love, no hate, supreme indifference. But perhaps that was Miss McCullough's intent.

While "The Touch" is not the equal of some of the author's earlier books like "The Thorn Birds" and "The Ladies of Missalonghi," I found it to be a fairly enjoyable read, and am not sorry I spent the time on it.

I have been a huge Colleen McCullough fan since The Thorn Birds was first published and have read all of her books (short of the Caesar series which I have yet to tackle). I particularly enjoyed Morgan's Run and have looked forward to this second in the series. However I found it disappointing. In many ways the writing seemed rushed, almost like there was a publisher's deadline to meet, and I thought many of the characters were two dimensional, particularly Elizabeth (although Ruby is wonderfully written and truly comes to life). McCullough does little to show us or help us to feel the motivations of Alexander and Elizabeth, instead repeating in very simplistic terms why they are the way they are. Anna's situation is described in very simplistic, and totally unrealistic, fashion. And I take particular issue with the way McCullough portrays Alexander's actions at the end, a neat wrap-up that serves her purpose, but totally unbelievable and out of character given his nature and personality.
I don't want to give away any details of the story or the specifics of what I found unrealistic, because even with all these faults, the story is compelling and McCullough has you turning pages to find out what is about to happen next (although it is not hard to guess what's coming). Even at her worst (and I am sorry to say that this book is not up to her usual excellence) McCullough's writing is better and more readable than many lesser authors. I wouldn't say don't read it - just don't expect it to be Morgan's Run, and certainly not The Thorn Birds. And at least for my part, I was hoping for more history intertwined in the story - this is all saga, a la Howard Fast.

I had anticipated an exciting and engrossing novel that is patently Colleen McCullough. The Touch was neither, very disappointingly so. The premise sounds promising, something akin to The Thorn Birds, full of strength, tragedy, and Australia. If that's what you are looking for, you won't find it here.
The tale has the makings of an epic. Thwarted desires, steely ambition, distinctive characters, a kinetic period of history. McCullough creates the elements, but fails to produce anything magical. She sets the story out fairly well in the beginning, but appears to have lost her passion for the plot as it treads the emotional depths lightly but sinks into every predictable hole imaginable.
The main characters, Alex and Elizabeth, are so cliche and monotoned, I lost interest in them halfway through. As one-dimensional as they are, even they don't keep to their personalities by the conclusion, acting so out of tune and all rationality, they lose the shape of their characters entirely. Many of the characters felt like strangers to me by the end. The supporting players, like Ruby, Nell, and Bede, were much livelier and even thoughtful creations, but McCullough isn't very consistent with their storylines (they pop out when you want more and pop in just when you're forgetting they exist) and doesn't follow through just when you feel she is digging deeper.
The historical aspect of The Touch is important and it is here that McCullough shines more steadily. The gold rush and the technology boom of the Industrial Revolution are interesting and researched. That one man, Alexander Kinross, literally conquers the world over in all these areas is where she loses contact with reality. Considering the remarkable skill McCullough has shown in capturing subtle layers in people and places, this sort of half-heartedness is indicative of the whole book. She sets it up and then lacks the focus to bring it to life.
All in all, the sheer predictability of the action is what turned me off this novel. It is entertaining as a novel well-written and if that was all I was expecting I wouldn't have anything to say. The author is what makes the difference. This is the epic queen Colleen McCullough and her audience deserves better. Read this if you're looking for a well-written book to pass the time.

Having consumed the author's previous novels, including the Rome series, it is with great regret that I review this book. It was absolutely horrible. Character developement relied on Superhero prototypes for substance. Super infant speaks in complete sentences! Man able to taste and smell gold becomes rich! Exotic nursemaid able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! You get the idea.
The story centers around Alexander, who at the mature age of 19, leaves behind an established career as a self taught engineer in Scotland to sniff out huge amounts of gold in California. Next, he makes his way East on a gold-laden pack mule,(what was that whole Honoria Brown section about?) and eventually returns to Scotland in triumph to seek out a child bride...yawn...
He subsequently travels the world, following in the footsteps of his 'namesake' Alexander the Great,ending up in Australia at the ripe old age age of 28. Once there, he sets about creating his own gold rush with the help of the immigrant Chinese population. Oh, there's more. I just can't bear to recount it here.

This is just a sample of the ridiculous plot lines we are expected to follow. I can't even begin to discuss the relationship scenarios that go on. This novel would have worked better as a comic book!! It was embarrassing to read. I wonder if the author had a clause in her contract allowing her to publish without editorial approval. After a long and wonderful career, Colleen seems to have lost "The Touch".

If you like your historical romances, grab this one up to add to your stock. Set in the Aussie goldrush days, it's really striking how closely it mimics the California Rush. With rich details and characters, the tale is one of forbidden desire and intrigue. Like any great historical romance, there is longing and the usual hardships to be resolved. I loved the characters and the way the story moved from one generation to the next. I did find the technical explanations of the mining a bit much (hence the 4 stars) and I did skip over some of the historical details of the Australian parliament. I will be passing this on to my other historical romance lovers. They'll be sure to like it.

Colleen McCullough confuses me. I simply cannot fathom how the same author can write a literate, enthralling work such as "The Thornbirds", and a failed Barbara Bradford style "The Touch".

Of course, Ms. McCullough has been confusing me for most of her career. Like most readers, I first became aware of her through "The Thornbirds" which became one of my all-time favorite books over 25 years ago. After reading that monumental bestseller, I (like many other readers) looked for other works by McCullough. "Tim" was no "Thornbirds" but at least was literate. The "First Man in Rome" trilogy was well-written, well researched and densely plotted, but (at least for me) a bit hard to follow since so many character's names were so similar.

Looking at the list of McCullough's other titles, I realize I stopped reading her until last year's "Morgan's Run". That was a fairly enjoyable book, but certainly showed none of "The Thornbirds" brilliance.

Now comes "The Touch", touted on it's cover as another "Thornbirds", since it is a 2 generation family saga set in Australia. Well, ok, they do have that much in common. McCullough even goes so far as to plagiarise herself in one of the 2nd generation's characters. But, really, that is as far as the resemblance goes.

"The Touch" follows Scottish emigree Alexander Kinross, his "pig in a poke" bride Elizabeth, and his mistress Ruby Costevan, as well as their various offspring. The characterisation is rather thin; Elizabeth is repeatedly referred to as fey by the other characters, yet as written she never seems to give any indication of otherworldliness, Lee, Ruby's son, is too perfect, and the choices made by the protagonists often seem out-of-character. The plot is more tame romance than saga, & is more than a tad predictable. Greatest of sins in historical novels, the research is scattershot; page 33, which takes place in 1872, has Alexander saying "The cliffs are early Triassic sandstone laid atop Permian coal measures, under which lie the granites, shales & limestones of Devonian & Silurian times. The very tops of some of the mountains to the north are a thin layer of basalt poured out of some massive volcano-the Tertiary icing on the Triassic cake...!" All very impressive, except those names of geologic ages were not in use in 1872.

The greatest fault of "The Touch" is it's writing. McCullough seems to have lost the touch (pun intended) exhibited in "The Thornbirds". This book simply isn't engrossing, it isn't particularly intelligent, and it's characters never assume lives of their own in the readers minds. All of which makes me wonder if McCullough has been allowing an assistant or ghost-writer to do her writing for her in recent years.

I just finished reading :The Touch" by Colleen McCullough. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time and I read over 200 books per year. The story is enthralling from the first chapter. Lots of Australian and New Zealand history of the 1800`s. It tells a great story of a man with a "purchased" bride, the discovery of gold and more as years pass. It tells of the Chinese people who work in his mines and also run his household.He builds a huge empire but his wife is left to her loneliness. It tells the story of a family through heartache, betrayal and more. An excellent read and lots of history which I enjoy. I highly recommend this book.

Really disappointing. It started out well enough and interesting enough but never really developed into a good read. The story seemed to teeter on the edge of being a trashy novella to be read on a long plane trip. Unfortunately it remained stuck between a trashy novel an interesting read. None of the characters were sympathetic and it was difficult to really care what happened to them. I expected more.

Anyone who has read a Colleen McCullough book published in the last 20 years knows that they are full of rich details and well rounded characters. The Touch is no exception. There are no surprises here for her fans, only awe at her vast knowledge.
This book is full of references and subtleties that any fan should recognize. Nell's geniuses as a baby parallels Caesar's young years. Andrew's uncanny ability to succeed and drive to conquer can also be compared to Caesar's dive and desire to be First Man in Rome. Ruby is a descendant of the hero and heroine form Morgan's Run. Even the in-depth technical descriptions can be no surprise. Whether on a Roman battle field (Master's of Rome Series), in the hull of a dilapidated ship hauling it's cargo of convicts to found a new country (Morgan's Run), Ms. McCullough never researches a subject halfway. The Touch is no less thorough with the evolution of the Labor Movement and the technologies of the day. Again we are made to wonder at such vast knowledge.
The Touch is a wonderful story of human relationships. We never ask the characters to apologize for their shortcomings but we are taught to accept them, even admire them for their ability to adapt to the situations into which they are thrown.
This book is a must read for all Colleen McCullough fans. I give it 4 out of 5 stars only because it is not Rome.

Really disappointing. It started out well enough and interesting enough but never really developed into a good read. The story seemed to teeter on the edge of being a trashy novella to be read on a long plane trip. Unfortunately it remained stuck between a trashy novel an interesting read. None of the characters were sympathetic and it was difficult to really care what happened to them. I expected more.

Anyone who has read a Colleen McCullough book published in the last 20 years knows that they are full of rich details and well rounded characters. The Touch is no exception. There are no surprises here for her fans, only awe at her vast knowledge.
This book is full of references and subtleties that any fan should recognize. Nell's geniuses as a baby parallels Caesar's young years. Andrew's uncanny ability to succeed and drive to conquer can also be compared to Caesar's dive and desire to be First Man in Rome. Ruby is a descendant of the hero and heroine form Morgan's Run. Even the in-depth technical descriptions can be no surprise. Whether on a Roman battle field (Master's of Rome Series), in the hull of a dilapidated ship hauling it's cargo of convicts to found a new country (Morgan's Run), Ms. McCullough never researches a subject halfway. The Touch is no less thorough with the evolution of the Labor Movement and the technologies of the day. Again we are made to wonder at such vast knowledge.
The Touch is a wonderful story of human relationships. We never ask the characters to apologize for their shortcomings but we are taught to accept them, even admire them for their ability to adapt to the situations into which they are thrown.
This book is a must read for all Colleen McCullough fans. I give it 4 out of 5 stars only because it is not Rome.

I read Colleen McCullough's THE THORN BIRDS long before it was a mini-series and thought it was a masterpiece. I haven't changed my mind because McCullough's novel about the universal human condition strikes a chord in most people. The passionate story, spanning three generations, describes the complex Clery family on a sheep ranch in Australia. One of the most memorable parts of the book is the forbidden love of Meggie and Ralph de Briscassart, a priest. McCullough is still a very good author, but THE TOUCH is a notch down from her other works. It simply lacks passion.
In the latter novel Andrew Kinross, after leaving his native Scotland as a youth, made a fortune in Australia in the late 1800s. Years later he wrote to a relative to send for his 16 year-old cousin, Elizabeth, to be his bride. After an arduous journey from Scotland, she arrived in Sydney. Upon seeing Andrew for the first time, she experienced revulsion, a feeling which remained throughout their long, loveless marriage.
At times glimpses of the old McCullough surface, especially when she graphically describes Jade's, the nursemaid, revenge for Anna's murder.
Most of the characters are not outstanding. Of them all, tough-talking, generous, Ruby, stands out. She serves in the unlikely position of Andrew's mistress and Elizabeth's best friend. Also the off-spring of the main characters fail to shine in any particular way.
If you want to be entertained rather than stirred, choose THE TOUCH.

Having just reread The Thorn Birds again recently, I decided to check out one of her more recent works and picked up The Touch. The summary on the book jacket sounded interesting but I wasn't far into the book when it was clear that this was no Thorn Birds or Morgan's Run.

I found myself actually shocked in places that the writing could be so bad from this talented author. In one scene, she has Ruby greeting Alexander "cooly yet warmly"...WHAT? She also conveniently puts Alexander in a bar with a couple of California miners who are unrealistically well-versed in geology - knowing all of the different kinds of rock and the geological time period in which it is from, they sounded more like geological graduate students than miners. And then after of course smelling gold and striking it rich, he sells his share to the other miners and leaves for the uncertain fate that awaits him in New South Wales. Who would abandon a gold mine that is far from being tapped out for a gamble in a place he has never seen? Well, Alex Kinross if this is to be believed.

Alexander's whole backstory was one big long "tell" with no "show" -he went here and did this, he went there and saw that, he felt this way, learned these things, etc. This left me as a reader seriously uninterested as it felt like someone recounting where they went on vacation. Huge yawn factor. And the fact that everywhere he went, he seemed to find some priceless piece of art that he sent back to England only to find that what he bought for a pittance was actually some rare and valuable item - like a Ming vase - get real! And don't even get me started on the whole thing about him being able to literally smell gold underground, oh, and his unaccounted-for knowledge of literally EVERYTHING from gold mining to civil engineering to sanitation facilities to railroad contruction...the list goes on.

And with Ruby, it was even worse. She looks at herself in the mirror, tells herself to think about her past, and then proceeds to ponder, in first person, her rape at age 11 by her brother, running away right after "her flower was plucked" and being a mistress for an old man, and all of the other things that happened to bring her to the place in life where she was as she looked in that mirror. Totally unbelievable! I mean, can anyone ever honestly see themselves looking in the mirror and saying that and then thinking "I was raped by my brother.....had my flower plucked....then I became mistress to old man.....since my flower was already plucked....then I inherited money from the old man....and the hackneyed plot device goes on. Then we are hauled just as abruptly back into the current time as we were hauled out of it into her past.

After enduring cardboard characters, silly plot lines and plot "devices", and lengthly authorial lectures on mining, gold, engineering, and the like, I finally threw in the towel about 1/2 way through and gave up. If you want to read a compelling story of a man who came from nothing and struck it rich by mining, read Sidney Sheldon's Master of the Game. It's not the Great American Novel, but I found it to be much better written and more compelling than The Touch.

After starting two times to read this book I managed to get through it all, just! I find it hard to believe the same author that penned the remarkable, "Thorn Birds", also wrote this tedious and dreary novel. Although the Historical content of "The Touch" is interesting (although rather long winded) and seems accurate, the character development is flawed. None of the characters are very likable, and all seem rather inconsistent. The author gives us no real reason to understand why they do the things they do. In fact, many of the characters and their personalities are just plain unbelievable. I don't think the characters fit very well into the time period that Mrs. Mccullough has written about. I found this book very unsatisfying, and it was a real trial to finish it. Without giving anything away, the ending was very disappointing, and did not seem in character.

"The Touch" by Colleen McCullough is a really good. Ms. McCullough tells the story of sixteen year old Elizabeth Drummond, a young girl who finds herself marrying Alexender Kinross, a man that she barely knows. The years that follows are filled with pain. This is a great book that has real emotions that draws the reader in and keeps them there wanting to know what happens to Elizabeth and if she will ever find the happiness that she needs.

We loved "Morgan's Run" and eagerly anticipated her sequel. This is a poor second. One of the characters relationship to Morgan is mentioned in passing, but it reallly has nothing to do with this silly plot. This is more unbelievable soap opera stuff than good novel writing. Don't waste your money or your time. She also gets bogged down in technical stuff about mining and inventions that can be skipped.

Reading this book felt like reading a cheap and very poorly written romance novel complete with silly characters, unbelievable situations and painfully predictable plot lines. Nevertheless, it managed to hold my interest for the first half or so (kind of like gawking at a train wreck). Then, suddenly bored and fed up with the ridiculous characters and plot, I skipped to the last chapter, thought what a stupid ending and put the book away. Don't bother with this one--there are too many GOOD books out there to read.

This is the most DEPRESSING book I have ever read. While the author's research for her subject appears extremely thorough, I found myself skipping or skim-reading through many parts that were bogged down in excessively detailed narrative. It was impossible to acquire an affection for the hero or heroine. And the reader is supposed to swallow the impossibility that the husband's "madam" mistress (a veritable bucket-mouth) becomes instant and best friends with the prudish, overly sensitive heroine. A LOT of unnecessary crudeness permeates the dialog. I was actually glad for the constant church-bashing theme (lavished repeatedly upon Presbyterians, Anglicans, Catholics and Methodists). At least the reader understands that this horrendous tale is meant to depict the life of godless people who are reaping the consequences of their warped philosophies and actions.

I nearly put the book down halfway through as there was no let up in the dark, depressing, senseless plot... Not until the final few pages does any light of happiness penetrate -- and then only because of near madness on the heroine's part and suicide on the hero's part!!!??? I DON'T THINK SO. I would recommend that you find better ways to fill your free time than expose yourself to this author's gloomy outlook on life, love, marriage and people in general.

This book certainly had me turning pages to find out what would happen, but it was ultimately disappointing. It had none of the richly-drawn characters that made The Thorn Birds such absorbing reading, and the plot was laughable in places. Alexander's decision in particular was facile, unbelievable and totally out of keeping with his (entirely one-dimensional) personality. The Nell character is clearly borrowed from Justine (Thorn Birds) and we are given absolutely no insight in to why two of the key characters fall in love - it appears to be entirely superficial because they have no more than four or five conversations before running off to live happily ever after. I really get the impression she just did this for the money.

The only reason I kept turning the pages was that I was fascinated by how bad the book was. And as a great admirer of the work of the author of Thornbirds, and even Tim; I was exciting about the possiblities of a new novel written by the same author. But alas, either the books are written by different people, or Mrs. McCullough had a contact to fulfill and not enough inspiration and time to develop a good yarn. The book is simple, predictable, uninspired and "redolent" of yuck!

I had read (and loved) the Thorn Birds years ago, so I had great expectations for this book. Although the story starts out with an interesting premise, I could not relate to one character in the story. They all seemed unbelievable, more like cartoon characters than real people, with a story as boring as a bad soap opera. It was very tough to finish it, I kept hoping for some clever or surprising development, but it was a disappointment right to the end.