The Touching Hand

The Touching Hand includes the short novel that gives the book its name, as well as six short sto­ries. In the title work, two chil­dren travel to England in the care of their nurse, Lutie. Over the course of the five-day voy­age, the pat­tern of all three lives changes as real­ity intrudes on the fan­tasy that they share. Ultimately, it is Lutie’s gift of ten­der­ness and love that makes the chil­dren vul­ner­a­ble and yet can also save them.

The sto­ries that fol­low The Touching Hand are all con­cerned with the poignancy of human rela­tions: the pro­tec­tive devo­tion of a ser­vant for his employer’s wife, the feel­ings of a man sup­planted in his wife’s affec­tions by his infant son, and of a woman who finds the free­dom of divorce quite dif­fer­ent from her expectations.

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