The Touch

McCullough has a deft hand with big sweeping family sagas and this book is no exception. In the late 19th Century, a young Scots emigrant, Alexander Kinross,, well on his way to becoming fabulously wealthy sends for a child bride from his native Scotland. Elizabeth, his wife, finds him frightening and dislikeable. They have two children, one of whom is brilliant; the other tragically flawed. Alexander retains his mistress, Ruby, who oddly becomes Elizabeth's closest friend and confidant. The story unfolds against the backdrop of key political and economic developments that shaped the future of Australia. While not one of McCullough's best, the book is very readable.

As a side note, this book is a particularly good example of a problem show more that I noticed some years ago in McCullough's ability to develop child characters. Her adult portraits are always very solid, very believable but children are poorly drawn--either flat and ignorable or unrealistic. show less

I was so disappointed in the ending because I felt it was inconsistent with the things McCullough had already told me about Alexander Kinross. She is a good writer, who draws you into her plots and characters, and I enjoyed the book while I was reading it...until the end. I keep hoping she will thrill me with another "Thorn Birds" but I fear that is not ever going to happen.

Found this on my bookshelf. The beginning starts out great -- a sixteen year old sheltered Scottish girl is sent to Australia to be the bride of an older distant relative who has become quite wealthy by mining gold. Elizabeth marries Alexander immediately. He maintains his love for a mistress, Ruby, a woman who runs a brothel who has a beautiful son with a Chinese man, Lee.

Elizabeth fulfills her "duty" as a wife but cannot bring herself to love Alexander although he is very kind to her. Eventually she and Ruby become close friends, Alexander becomes even richer. Elizabeth gives birth to Nell who grows up to be very independent, smart, and becomes an engineer and doctor - unheard of at the time. Her second child, Anna, is mentally show more handicapped due to birth complications. When Anna is a teen, she is raped by a local man giving birth to another girl.

The premise of the book, the setting etc, was fine, but it got really sappy at the ending. Lots of discussion about love and passion and just plain sappy scenes. Elizabeth having a wild affair with Lee, being carried away, yadda, yadda, yadda. Then there is pages and pages about steam engines and explosives and mining. I skimmed the last third of the book. show less

I LOVED The Thron Birds and I loved this one as well.
I seem to end up reading her romance novels right when my life is rolling with romance -- be that the beginning or end. This seems to offer me a unique perspective -- one where I can truly relate to the characters. I think that's why I loved this book...

I can't say if the ending seemed hastily written. I was so in love with the story and characters by then. I LOVE how it ends clearly.

So good!!

The first quarter of this novel had me hooked, I loved the descriptive narrative, however the book began to drag and I had to force myself to finish it. I am glad I finished the book but felt it was 200 pages too long.

Classic family saga novel. A little too much detail in places, but still a good yarn. It sucked me in, that's for sure.

boring, with an ending that seems unlikely. the characters are interesting, but not one of them is worth rooting for.