A husband’s vow. A sister’s love. A widow’s longing.

How far will we go to satisfy our hearts’ desires and heal old wounds? Do our bodies have wants and needs that are deeper than those we’re willing to acknowledge with our conscious minds? Many needs, of which we are often unaware.

We humans hunger for food, shelter, and comfort. Our most important comfort is the solace of human touch.

Here’s the Walt Whitman poem that inspired this book.

I have perceiv’d that to be with those I like is enough,
To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,
To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing flesh is enough,
To pass among them or touch any one, or rest my arm ever so lightly round his or her neck for a moment, what is this then?
I do not ask any more delight, I swim in it as in a sea.

From “The Body Electric” by
WALT WHITMAN