Leonardo�s Handwriting is a romantic moral tale, with an unconventional woman at its heart. Nature has given the heroine, Anna, the gift of clairvoyance, and it is this that determines her singular fate. The characteristic �left-handed mirror handwriting,� which in psychology came to be known as �Leonardo�s handwriting� (since that�s how the Renaissance genius wrote his notes), simply adds to the �weirdness� both of Anna�s personality and the twists and turns of the novel. Is the divine gift of prophecy a blessing or a curse? And how is it possible to withstand the burden of such an astonishing gift?

This is also a novel about love: a strong, noble, tragic love, love, in short, that �is stretched to breaking point.� Here, as well as the classic love triangle, there is another character whose bizarre, platonic yearning for Anna resembles a call from the �mirror universe� that has entranced and attracted her since childhood. The reader must put together the pieces of this �mirror� puzzle of personalities and events in a storyline that falls into place and �comes into focus� like an image in a misted mirror�bit by bit. The events of the book become fully clear only in the very last paragraph.

The action of the novel covers a large period of time: Kiev at the beginning of the 1960s and many countries in the twenty-first century. The material on which the plot is devised is new and unusual in contemporary literature: �closed communities� like the circus, stunt performance, the world of mirror shows.

The story is seen from different points of view and told in different voices. There are the letters of Anna�s lover, the bassoon-player, Senya, plus jottings from his notebook. There is the monologue of Anna�s circus partner and ex-husband, Volodya, addressed to an Interpol investigator. Finally, there is a the linear, chronological narrative which pulls the book together. Different views of a single event, an entire gallery of characters, a variety of languages and dialects, vivid pictures of cities and countries.

About the Author:
Dina Rubina is an Israeli Russian-language writer. Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1953, Dina had her first stories published in the 1970s. She studied music at the Tashkent Conservatory. Dina has received numerous awards, and is the bestselling author of over 40 titles, including eight novels. Her novels and short stories have been made into films, adapted for TV, and staged in theatres in Russia and Israel. She is the 2007 Big Book Award winner for the novel On the Sunny Side of the Street and a Russian Prize finalist for the novel The White Dove of Cordoba. Since 1990, Dina Rubina has been living in Ma�ale-Adumim, Israel, with her family.

Title: Leonardo�s Handwriting
Author: D?ina? Rubina
Translator: Melanie Moore
Publisher: Glagoslav Publications
Language: English
ISBN: 9781912894451, 9781912894468, 9781912894475
Extent: 232 pages
Price: �21.99 (PB), �25.99 (HB), �9.95 (e-book)
Format: paperback, hardback, e-book