Jacob's Hands

This 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 Bronski