Jacob's Hands

One day he learns that his hands possess the mysterious gift of healing, a gift he uses to cure animals (whom he adores). Sharon (whom he also adores) then persuades him to heal her.

When he successfully cures Sharon, his gift is quickly exploited and the boundaries of his charm and naïveté begin to stretch. First he offers his healing powers for free at a church in Los Angeles-where Jacob has gone after Sharon, who fled her father and the ranch to pursue he dreams of stardom. Jacob and Sharon cross paths when they work for the same pair of exploitative showmen. Jacob stays with the seedy stage show only because Sharon is close by.

It is when Jacob's gift is recruited to heal Earl Medwin, an eccentric, ailing young millionaire, that the love and security for which he has worked so hard begin to collapse.

This previously unpublished tale by Aldous Huxley (BRAVE NEW WORLD) and Christopher Isherwood (GOOD-BYE TO BERLIN), two of the greatest storytellers of the twentieth century, uses tight, vivid, and seamlessly crafted prose to show the dangers that a magical gift will undoubtedly bring to even the sincerest of characters.