In "The Right Attitude to Rain," Isabel Dalhousie, a philosophical journal editor, navigates love and moral dilemmas in Scotland. After being hurt by her unfaithful husband, she seeks to improve the lives of those around her, including her housekeeper and niece, while grappling with her feelings for Jamie, her niece's ex.
Isabel Dalhousie thinks often of friends, sometimes of lovers, and on occasion of chocolate. As an Edinburgh philosopher she is certain of where she stands. She can review a book called In praise of sin with panache and conviction, but real life is, well, perhaps a bit more challenging - particularly when it comes to her feelings for Jamie, a younger man who should have married her niece, Cat. Jamie's handsomeness leaves Isabel feeling distinctly uneasy, and ethically disturbed. "I am a philosopher," she thinks, "but I am also a woman." And more disturbance is in store. When Cat takes a break in Italy, Isabel agrees to run her delicatessen. One of the customers, she discovers, has recently had a heart transplant and is now being plagued by memories that cannot be rationally explained and which he feels do not belong to him. Isabel is intrigued. So intrigued that she finds herself rushing headlong into a dangerous investigation. But she still has time to think about the things that possess her - things like love and friendship, and, of course, temptation.
Amateur sleuth Isabel Dalhousie is a philosopher who also uses her training to solve unusual mysteries. Instinct tells Isabel that the young man who tumbled to his death in front of her eyes at a concert in the Usher Hall didn't fall - he was pushed. Originally published: London: Little, Brown, 2004 An Askews Gold 2005 title.
Kate Stanley, een 29-jarige deskundige op het gebied van het werk en leven van William Shakespeare, heeft de universiteit van Harvard vaarwel gezegd om zich te storten op een carrière als toneelregisseuse. Ze heeft de grote eer om als Amerikaanse een productie van Hamlet te mogen registreren in het beroemde Globe Theatre in Londen. Vlak voor de laatste repetities verschijnt plotseling Kates vroegere mentor van Harvard, Roz. Roz geeft Kate een klein gouden doosje met een vreemde boodschap: "Als je het openmaakt, moet je gaan waarheen het je leidt."
The startling novel by one of the most original writers of the twentieth century.