With Canada on the brink of having its first female astronaut Governor General, it seems a good time to review the new book by Alexander McCall Smith in his beloved Isabel Dalhousie series.
Called A Distant View of Everything, this novel watches Isabel’s struggle with a match-making problem while simultaneously trying to coax her first-born to accept his newborn baby brother and attempting to edit her own publication on philosophical questions – her area of expertise. She does manage thanks to her own kindness and common sense, and the help of her adoring husband, a young musician.
Alexander McCall Smith has built up a number of series of books starting with the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, as well as stand-alone books. They have been translated into more than forty languages and are best-sellers world-wide. He makes his home in Edinburgh.
Entertainment Weekly calls him genial and wise. You put down his books feeling not only entertained, but reassured and content. This one is no exception.
Reviewed by Anne McDougall