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Iris Tate begins a new job as Professor of Moral Philosophy, hoping to find simpatico new colleagues. Instead, she finds herself in a small clique of malcontents: Percy, the fierce Head of English; Marcel, a revolutionary history professor, and GG who likes to make her students cry with miserable music. There’s also a bitter rival in Colin, the Assistant Dean. Repressing grief, guilt and loss requires distraction, which comes in the form of a request for professional help. The Director of Public Prosecutions must decide whether to prosecute a murder which took place in a citizens’ assembly on climate. The stakes are high. For the first time, citizens’ assemblies have been granted actual power. The media frenzy resulting from a murder would mean the end of this form of direct democracy, which many believe could be the silver bullet to avert a climate crisis. Young people versed in moral philosophy would be the ideal group to consult, but confidentiality is crucial. Iris cannot resist. People assume philosophy lacks real-world implications and she’s keen to prove them wrong. When the Dean proposes the controversial concept of ‘edutainment,’ Iris devises a moral philosophy course based on a whodunnit that all assume is hypothetical – a murder in a climate assembly. A variety of characters provide an entertaining source of ethical dilemmas, and all relate to the proposed climate policies in different ways. But what the students don’t know is that the ultimate dilemma is very real, and their conclusions will have far-reaching consequences.
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Reviews
“At once a commentary on the looming responsibility of the climate crisis and our ever-shrinking opportunity to enact meaningful change, and a far from conventional whodunnit, the book plays with the notion of what is moral and what is right. Complicit in the book’s central sprawling philosophical dilemma, the reader finds themselves judge, jury and executioner in the case of the century. While the novel tackles prescient and troubling themes and poses difficult questions (how far should we go for the greater good?), it does so with a sense of dry humour and a delightful eye for the absurd. Above all, the warmth and resilience of its ineffable protagonist suffuses the narrative and, as the story ends, we struggle to leave her behind. Not only is ‘The Philosopher and the Assassin’ a timely, thought-provoking and essential story in an age of urgent, innovative climate action that demands the attention of us all, but it is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Funny, memorable, characterful and original.” (Review by Miles Hawksley senior editor of The Literary Studio)