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Touch Me (novel)
Encyclopedia
Touch Me is a novel
written by award-winning Australian author
James Moloney
.
It was published in April 2000 by University of Queensland Press, an Australian publishing company.
For Xavier McLachlan, Rugby is life. Winning a 1st XV jersey means everything... Until he meets Nuala Magee. Has there ever been a girl like her?
She's feisty, she's troubled, she's dangerous. What will his mates think? Does he even care?
Everything looks different now.
Xavier McLachlan is in love.
Copyright James Moloney 2000.
Touch Me tells the story of a young Australian named Xavier McLachlan, who is in his final year of high school. A keen sportsman, his aim for the year is to be selected in the school Rugby team and help his friends and team mates win the first premiership in twenty years. All is going according to plan until he meets Nuala Magee, an unusual girl with her own agenda. (She is cross-dressing and acts in a deliberately confrontational manner towards boys.) Xavier is intrigued by her and against the advice of his friends, becomes very close to her, eventually starting a relationship with her. Xavier also befriends a new boy, Alex Murray and this friendship helps Xavier begin to change his ideas about what it means to be a man. The tension between Xavier and his friends begins to isolate him and when he betrays Nuala out of weakness, and a tragedy befalls Alex Murray, he is faced with difficult decisions about who he is and what he holds most dear.
who always strives to win in every game. He lives with his parents and two sisters, Felicity and Mary Ellen, and attends St. Matthews College, an all-boys school in a large Australian city.
Nuala "Boong" Magee - An unusual and rather unsettling girl whom Xavier meets at a train station and finds interesting.
Alex Murray - A keen and thoughtful student who Xavier befriends and who helps him find out more about Nuala.
Brother Allbecker - the Deputy Principal at Xavier's school who provides useful advice and encouragement to him.
Ben Preston - the St Matthew's Rugby Coach brought in by the Old Boys Association especially to win the premiership. He is 'old school' and loses sight of responsibility to the boys in his care.
Scott Watson - St Matthew's football team captain and Xavier's best friend until events between himself and Nuala cause them to fight..
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by award-winning Australian author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
James Moloney
James Moloney
James "Jim" Moloney is an Australian children's author who has written more than 30 books including The Book of Lies, The Gracey Trilogy, and A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove, which won the Australian Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award in 1997...
.
It was published in April 2000 by University of Queensland Press, an Australian publishing company.
Plot
Summary appearing on the 2000 paperback edition:For Xavier McLachlan, Rugby is life. Winning a 1st XV jersey means everything... Until he meets Nuala Magee. Has there ever been a girl like her?
She's feisty, she's troubled, she's dangerous. What will his mates think? Does he even care?
Everything looks different now.
Xavier McLachlan is in love.
Copyright James Moloney 2000.
Touch Me tells the story of a young Australian named Xavier McLachlan, who is in his final year of high school. A keen sportsman, his aim for the year is to be selected in the school Rugby team and help his friends and team mates win the first premiership in twenty years. All is going according to plan until he meets Nuala Magee, an unusual girl with her own agenda. (She is cross-dressing and acts in a deliberately confrontational manner towards boys.) Xavier is intrigued by her and against the advice of his friends, becomes very close to her, eventually starting a relationship with her. Xavier also befriends a new boy, Alex Murray and this friendship helps Xavier begin to change his ideas about what it means to be a man. The tension between Xavier and his friends begins to isolate him and when he betrays Nuala out of weakness, and a tragedy befalls Alex Murray, he is faced with difficult decisions about who he is and what he holds most dear.
Characters
Xavier McLachlan - The main character of the story, he is often called "Xave" for short. Tall and good-looking, he is a teenage footballerRugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
who always strives to win in every game. He lives with his parents and two sisters, Felicity and Mary Ellen, and attends St. Matthews College, an all-boys school in a large Australian city.
Nuala "Boong" Magee - An unusual and rather unsettling girl whom Xavier meets at a train station and finds interesting.
Alex Murray - A keen and thoughtful student who Xavier befriends and who helps him find out more about Nuala.
Brother Allbecker - the Deputy Principal at Xavier's school who provides useful advice and encouragement to him.
Ben Preston - the St Matthew's Rugby Coach brought in by the Old Boys Association especially to win the premiership. He is 'old school' and loses sight of responsibility to the boys in his care.
Scott Watson - St Matthew's football team captain and Xavier's best friend until events between himself and Nuala cause them to fight..
Issues and themes
- Coming of ageComing of ageComing of age is a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual, as practiced by many societies...
- GuiltGuiltGuilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...
- SportsmanshipSportsmanshipSportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors...
- Interpersonal relationshipInterpersonal relationshipAn interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...
- LoyaltyLoyaltyLoyalty is faithfulness or a devotion to a person, country, group, or cause There are many aspects to...
- Bullying
- DeathDeathDeath is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
- Emotional traumaPsychological traumaPsychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
- BetrayalBetrayalBetrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations...
- Stereotypes
- IdentityIdentity (social science)Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
Awards and nominations
- Won the VictorianVictoria (Australia)Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
Premier's Prize (Premier's Literary Awards) in 2001. http://www.brisbanewritersfestival.com.au/2005/content/standard.asp?name=MoloneyJ
- Won the Herald SunHerald SunThe Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
prize for Young adult fiction. http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-pa-HTTP%253A%252F%252FWWW.SLV.VIC.GOV.AU%252FMISCPICS%252F0%252F1%252F0%252FDOC%252FMP010666.SHTML
- Shortlisted for Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award 2001. http://www.somerset.qld.edu.au/conflib/Biographies.htm