This wild, magic-realist ride of a novel, originally published in 1994, is funny, sexy, satirical, linguistically exuberant, and utterly unique. Written as a fictional biography, it tells the life story of a woman with magical sexual powers that she uses to heal people. The story follows our heroine from her miraculous birth through her childhood in a magical orphanage to adulthood, when she uncovers sinister conspiracies among political and well-hidden foes. Woven into The Magic Touch is that of her grandmother, whose mysterious background propels the story forward in ways that begin as Faustian and end up as spiritual. The story culminates in a spectacular—and hilarious—showdown between the forces of good and evil.
The Magic Touch is Rachel Simon’s second book and first novel. It was a 1994 selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program, which highlights books of exceptional literary quality from authors at the starts of their careers.
“Equal parts fairy tale, satire, parable and comic book . . . The various narratives are reminiscent of the work of Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan. . . . The storytelling reflects a giddy pleasure in the sounds of words and a taste for fantasy with heavy overlays of popular culture. It’s as if the language itself has taken off its clothes and is dancing naked in the moonlight.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Faust meets Rumpelstilskin in Rachel Simon’s delicious and exhilarating first novel, The Magic Touch. An erotic, boisterous fairy tale for adults . . . replete with clever names and inventive language, even poetry and rap lyrics. It contains wonderfully creative characters, plot twists, and imaginative stylistic ideas. Miss Simon writes with a magic touch.” —The Washington Times
“Divinely comic . . . Rachel Simon skillfully pieces together a symbolic puzzle of American spiritual malaise.” —San Francisco Review of Books
“Unpredictability, inventiveness, and a slam-bang finish . . . Readers are in for a wild ride.” —Publishers Weekly
“Readers who like their fiction audacious and energetic will swoon for Rachel Simon’s debut novel, The Magic Touch.” —New Age Journal
“A romp of wild images and linguistic fun . . . Takes the reader on a delightful roller coaster ride.” —Intelligencer Record
“Best novel in ages. Loved it.” —Fay Weldon, bestselling author of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil and Letters to Alice
