Jacob's hands

Jacob Ericson is a quiet, kind, and somewhat simple man who works as a ranch hand for crotchety Professor Carter and his crippled daughter, Sharon, in California's Mojave Desert in the 1920s. Jacob is a good man, genuine, honorable, but hardly extraordinary--until he miraculously heals a dying calf with his hands.However, while he is content to cure the town's animals, it isn't long before he is persuaded to use his gift in other ways. When Sharon, whom he adores, begs him to heal her leg, he cannot deny her. His acquiescence causes them both to be exploited. Sharon runs away to Los Angeles to pursue her dreams of stardom. Jacob follows her, hopeful that they will meet again. And they do--as miserable performers in a seedy stage show. While they plan their escape from the dreary stage life, Jacob is asked to heal a self-absorbed young millionaire. And with his assent, Jacob's plans, and all of his dreams, begin to crumble.Written in tight, vivid, and seamlessly crafted prose, this previously unpublished tale by two of the greatest storytellers of the twentieth century shows the dangers a magical gift holds for even the noblest of characters.Amazon.com ReviewThis collaborative effort between Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood, from a film project they were contracted to write in the late 1930s, was discovered in a trunk at Huxley's estate by actress Sharon Stone, who was researching the author's work for a film based on one of his short stories. Jacob's Hands is a novella-length film treatment for a script about a ranch hand who, after learning that he has the gift of healing, becomes disillusioned when he discovers that mending a broken body does not always heal a tormented soul. The slim volume proves both mesmerizing and moving, and the use of the present tense lends an air of innocence and mystery to the story, while the book's emotional undercurrents and passions stir up deeper, troubling responses. Jacob's Hands is a complex, disquieting modern fairy tale unlike anything else by either author, and a fascinating artifact of their Hollywood careers. --Michael BronskiFrom Publishers WeeklyForgotten in a trunk for six decades and uncovered by actress Sharon Stone, who flirted with the idea of producing it, this sentimental screen story, or novella, revisits the 1920s with a nostalgic eye. Gentle, simple-souled Jacob Erickson works on a ranch in the Mojave desert as a semi-magical healer of sick and injured animals. When Sharon, the boss's crippled but stage-struck daughter, asks shyly adoring Jacob to heal her, too, he obliges and she flees the ranch. Eighteen months later, they meet again in L.A.: he's a workman, healing children who are brought to him at a small church; she works in a burlesque theater?the reality pit stop of her stage dreams. Seeing money in Jacob's powers, the theater's unscrupulous managers blackmail Sharon into convincing Jacob to go into the healing business with them. Sharon and Jacob should go back to the clean pure desert and do some good, but they are trapped by Jacob's compassion for one of his patients, Earl Medwin, the chronically ill heir to a vast fortune, and by Sharon's final surrender to temptation?Earl's assiduous attentions and all that money. Written in the present tense, occasionally in summary paragraphs that seem to be standing in for dialogue, Huxley's and Isherwood's collaboration makes even Forrest Gump (which it resembles much more closely than, say, Isherwood's Cabaret-inspiring The Berlin Stories or Huxley's Brave New World) look morally complex. Even so, it exposes a strong spine of dramatic conflict and a definite period charm. Agent, Dorris Halsey; film rights to Arthur Axelman, Rialto Films and Dorothea Petrie. (Sept.) FYI: The book's jacket will feature an illustration by Don Bacardi, who was Isherwood's lover. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.