The Magic Touch: A Novel

Born two days after her mother's death, Celeste Kipplebaum Runetoon Kelly discovers she has a preternatural power to heal people through sex, and sets off on a surreal, sublime journey through good, evil, and rock 'n' roll. This wild ride of a novel, published by Viking 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: during the act of making love, her partners re-experience their most painful memories, and as she lives their memories with them, she removes their suffering and takes it into herself, leaving them cleaned, strong, and youthful. Woven through her story is that of her grandmother, whose own mysterious background propels the story forward in ways that begin as Faustian and end up as spiritual. The story culminates in an unforgettable, earth-shattering showdown between the forces of good and evil.