From internationally bestselling author Mitch Albom comes Human Touch, a fictional yet ripped-from-the-headlines story about how lives intersect in a small Michigan town amidst the Coronavirus pandemic. Human Touch is a story being told in real time, to be published in weekly installments. As the COVID-19 virus takes root in America, a once neighborly street corner of four families begins to fray. A tradition of Saturday gatherings unravels into mistrust and distance. Self-protection dominates over kindness. Only eight-year-old Little Moses seems immune to what is happening around him, and continues to spread his own brand of joy and comfort. As people in the neighborhood become sick and begin to self-isolate, he secretly visits them, offering hugs and longed-for physical contact. When his mother reveals a long-held secret about him—that his blood somehow protects him against all illness—Little Moses draws quick attention from several sources, both good and bad. And then he disappears. A note from the author: “By making this story available for free to all, I’m hoping to inspire donations to my foundation, SAY Detroit—specifically for a project called ‘Detroit Beats COVID-19’ to help poor families and first responders fight the virus in my hometown of Detroit, which has become one of the nation's hot spots for the outbreak. To find out more, visit humantouchstory.com or saydetroit.org.” ©2020 Mitch Albom (P)2020
Author
Author, screenwriter, philanthropist, journalist, and broadcaster Mitch Albom is an inspiration around the world. Albom is the author of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, which have collectively sold more than forty million copies in forty-eight languages worldwide. He has written eight number-one New York Times bestsellers—including Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time, which topped the list for four straight years and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022. He has also written award-winning TV films, stage plays, screenplays, a nationally syndicated newspaper column, and a musical. He appeared for more than 20 years on ESPN, and was a fixture on The Sports Reporters. Through his work at the Detroit Free Press, he was inducted into both the National Sports Media Association and Michigan Sports halls of fame and was the recipient of the Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement. Following his bestselling memoir Finding Chika, and Human Touch, a weekly serial written and published online which raised nearly $1 million for pandemic relief, he returned to fiction with The Stranger in the Lifeboat, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestsellers List after being #1 on Amazon. His much-anticipated new novel, set during the Holocaust, is coming in the fall of 2023. Albom now spends the majority of his time in philanthropic work. Since 2006, he has operated nine charitable programs in southeast Michigan under his SAY Detroit umbrella, including the nation's first medical clinic for homeless children. He also created a dessert shop and popcorn line to fund programs for Detroit’s most underserved citizens. Since 2010, Albom has operated Have Faith Haiti in Port-au-Prince, a home and school to more than 60 children, which he visits every month without exception.
