BOOK REVIEW

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“The Touch”, by Colleen McCullough. Century, Random House, London 2003.

Reviewed by PER

 Another book that’s hard to put down. While not challenging to the intellect, this is great for relaxation with a fair touch of “the contents may offend some people”…  Especially bigots and anyone sexist and pro-white, or doesn’t like “gold-faced” language.

 The storyline evolves from the lives of two people from an ‘emotionally blocked’ dower Scots village who move to Australia.  Alexander achieves success and calls for a wife he has never seen.

She is 16 and unworldly and, despite his non-violent approach, finds him unlovable. Their lives inter-twine with others and develop in ways which, while somewhat ‘fairy story’ and romantic in the widest terms, are acceptable and hold continuing interest to the very end.

While phenomenally rich, Alexander has an attitude towards Chinese Australians and to the workforce in general that Union delegates may find hard to replicate within the people they deal with, but this does not detract from the readability of "The Touch". 

 As with her previous books, with “The Thorn Birds” a world success, Colleen deals most interestingly with the Australian psyche; her male as well as female characters acceptable as real people.  The story runs in the late 1800s and into the start of the twentieth century and presents the problems of those times in a realistic way.

 A totally enjoyed novel.

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