The forgotten affairs of youth
(Books)

Isabel and her fiancé know who they are and where they come from. But not everybody is so fortunate, and some, like Jane, a visiting Australian philosopher on sabbatical in Edinburgh, have more questions than answers. Jane, adopted at the age of six, is trying to trace her biological father, but all she knows about him is that he was a student in Edinburgh years ago. When she asks for Isabel's help in this seemingly impossible search . . . well, of course Isabel obliges. Still, Isabel manages to find time for her own concerns: her young son, Charlie, already walking and talking, and his keen new (and demanding!) interest in kites; her housekeeper, Grace, whose spiritualist has lately been doubling as a financial advisor; and the ever-pressing question of whether or not Isabel and Jamie should finally get married, though of course that would entail an actual wedding . . .