Leonardo's Handwriting

Leonardo's Handwriting is a romantic morality 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.

Published with the support of the Institute for Literary Translation, Russia

About the Author
Rubina, Dina: - 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.