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The Dutch Wife begins when the narrator moves into half of an old, unsettling, quite possibly haunted mansion
He befriends his neighbour, the aging Professor Thomas Vanderlinden, and is fascinated by Thomas's story of his remarkable mother, Rachel, and the two men with whom she shared her life. Both went by the name of Rowland Vanderlinden. The first went abroad and never returned. The second Rowland, a man whom Rachel accepted unquestioningly as her husband, was a mystery. Who was he? And what happened to the first Rowland Vanderlinden?Determined to uncover the secrets of both men, Thomas sets off in search of the first Rowland, eventually tracking him down on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The first Rowland tells Thomas of his many adventures — his visit to the great Monastery of Masalketse, his time as librarian for the Maharajah of Bakhstan and his meeting with the Director of the Institute for the Lost — and Thomas soon grows to respect him. He also learns the identity of the other Rowland Vanderlinden, a man with whom his mother lived happily for many years, although he was utterly unlike the man he impersonated.The Dutch Wife, while fascinating and perverse, is also a portrait of one woman and the impenetrable choices she makes; a study of the relations between parents and children; an exploration of the concept of redemption; a paean to diversity; and a profound meditation on the nature of love.
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