Book review: The Missing Shade of Blue, By Jennie Erdal

Both a "philosophical adventure" and a bittersweet tragi-comedy of reason and passion, Erdal's fictional debut unfolds in Edinburgh under the sceptical eye of David Hume.

Lonely, Parisian-raised translator Edgar arrives to study the Enlightenment sage; once there, his life becomes entangled with those of Harry and Carrie, a self-destructive philosopher and his artist wife.

To invoke Iris Murdoch and Michael Frayn is not to slight the originality of Erdal's voice – merely to hint at the range of delights this smart but warm book promises.