'High on atmosphere and tension, this is another powerful novel from the author of THE RICE MOTHER.'

'Woven with the beautiful intricacy of a spider creating its web, Touching Earth uses exquisite, lyrical writing to present us with the harsh realities of heroin addiction, prostitution and innocence lost.'

'Once again Rani Manicka has left me spellbound with her beautiful prose and intricately woven plot. Touching Earth is a dark and powerful tale by an extremely gifted storyteller.'

THE BALINESE TWINS - Beautiful and exotic, they exchange an island paradise for the shabby squalor of London, and innocence for corruption.
THE SICILIAN - Ricky Delgado strikes a devil's bargain with a blood goddess: 'Build my temple and bring me the souls of damaged people, and you will see what rewards I give.'
THE COURTESAN - Elizabeth makes her living from men's desire. With a flick of the switch in her head, she feels nothing: no pain, no hate, no sorrow, no joy.
THE ARTIST - Anis takes to painting as an outlet for his rage. His artist's eye knows his subjects before they know themselves, and he paints them all, a gallery of broken people. Can they escape the deadly web of decadence and sin?

Off to Annimanni
who picked it from the South-East Asian VBB

Thank you, ApoloniaX! You're the best, really :)

A very good read from Manicka again. I struggled a bit first as I didn't really engage with the twins, but then got hooked as the storyline and the (other) characters started to develop. I felt though that the author could have fleshed out some of the characters a bit more, the twins especially as now their downward spiral feels, despite all its horrendousness, somehow less touching and less motivated than that of many of the others. I'm also not sure why she decided to bring her (fictional?) self to the story towards the end. It didn't really add anything in my view.

All in all, though, this is a strangely lyrical and dreamlike peek into the dark underworld of London with all its desperation and depravity. Thanks for sharing, ApoloniaX!

Reserved for MiuM who has this on her wishlist.

Thank you for the wishlist book!

I received the book at the bc summer meet-up in Pori. The meet-up place had the sea right on the backyard practically. here is a picture to prove it. :)

Onnittelut! Olet löytänyt aarteen, kiertävän bookcrossing-kirjan!
Lue, journaloi ja vapauta uudelleen.