The eighth delightful installment in the ongoing saga of the life and loves of Isabel Dalhousie.

As the editor of an applied ethics journal, Isabel Dalhousie is usually tucked away in her editorial office, in the comfortable Edinburgh house she shares with her fiancé and their young son, and does not often meet many fellow philosophers. But while helping in the delicatessen owned by her niece, Cat, she meets Jane Cooper, an Australian philosopher who is spending a sabbatical in Scotland. Isabel learns that Jane needs to find out something about her past. Jane was born in Scotland but taken to Australia as a baby by her adoptive parents. She knows who her mother is, but her father's identity is still a mystery. Can Isabel help Jane unconver this important and potentially unsettling information? And in Isabel's own life, there is the ever-present question of marriage, and also the perennially difficult issue of her relationship with Cat, whose choice of men is as dubious as ever.

 Back to top | e-mail or print this page

“Every bit as charming as his No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.”
—Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail
 
“Alexander McCall Smith novels never fail to delight...The Forgotten Affairs of Youth [is] no exception, with its gentle humour and philosophical musings.”
—The Guardian

“Life is full of mystery, and for Alexander McCall Smith even everyday enigmas can provide a compelling challenge for the engaged observer. That same principle holds true in the Isabel Dalhousie series.... Along the way, readers get to soak up the cozy atmosphere of this Scottish university town and McCall Smith’s gentle good will.... Soothing.”
—The Boston Globe
 
“You needn’t be a series-long admirer of Isabel Dalhousie to be beguiled by this curious philosopher and casual sleuth.”
—Publishers Weekly
 
“There is plenty of quiet humour and gentle satire in this engaging novel.... Refreshingly upbeat.”
—Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)

“In its own way, McCall Smith’s world is as stylized and hermetic as those created by P.G. Wodehouse or Damon Runyon—a sweet and timeless bubble with its own morality, language and customs. Entering it can be a source of great comfort in these uncertain times.”
—The Seattle Times
 
“To say McCall Smith is a literary phenomenon doesn’t quite describe what has happened. He has become more of a movement, a worldwide club for the dissemination of gentle wisdom and good cheer. . . . They make a splash of colour in a drab world and provide a genial buffer against the disappointments of life.”
—The Telegraph

 Back to top | e-mail or print this page

ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH was born in what is now Zimbabwe and taught law at the University of Botswana. He is now professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh. He has written more than fifty books, including a number of specialist titles, but is best known for The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has achieved bestseller status on four continents. He lives in Scotland, where in his spare time he is a bassoonist in the RTO (Really Terrible Orchestra).


From the Hardcover edition.

 Back to top | e-mail or print this page