The Forgotten Affairs of Youth

Alexander McCall Smith's novels featuring Isabel Dalhousie are exercises in ethics. What is a true parent? Must one give a warning to someone who one knows won't take it anyway, a warning that might stave off a great deal of pain? What is paramount, the desires of blood kin or civic duty? Is there karma? What is love, and can obsession be love or love obsessive? Are sins less venal when committed by the easily led than by those who had the will to resist? The mystery in The Forgotten Affairs of Youth is neither urgent nor earth-shattering. The novel is almost a series of vignettes strung together; however, each inspires interest and reveals a great deal of unconventional thinking. Does Isabel overthink things? Doubtless, as I'm sure she show more would be the first to admit. Yet, are her musings entertaining and thought-provoking? Again, doubtless.

While not as gripping -- can one even use that word in connection with Isabel Dalhousie? -- as The Sunday Philosophy Club, The Forgotten Affairs of Youth won't disappoint true fans of Isabel and her friends. show less

The Forgotten Affairs of Youth is the 8th (9th if you count a short story, "The Perils of Morning Coffee," available only as an e-book) in the Isabel Dalhousie series by Alexander McCall Smith. Isabel is a philosopher living in Edinburgh, the owner and editor of the academic journal Review of Applied Ethics, and an independently wealthy woman in her early 40s who has a 2-year-old son, Charlie, along with a much younger boyfriend, Jamie, a somewhat high maintenance housekeeper, Grace, and a rather volatile niece, Cat, who used to be Jamie's lover. In this outing, Isabel is introduced to a visiting philosopher from Melbourne, Jane, who turns out to have been born in Edinburgh and adopted by a couple who immediately moved to Australia. She show more wonders if it might be possible, after 40 years, to trace the identity of her unknown father, and Isabel is of course happy to look into it. In the meantime, Professor Lettuce is up to his usual manipulative schemes, there's a Judge who's not telling the truth about what she knows, Jamie begins to wonder when he and Isabel will finally get married, and one of Grace's spiritualists has recommended investment in a particular company, a recommendation that results in drastically different outcomes for the investors.... Nothing much ever happens in the Isabel Dalhousie series, but that's one of the reasons that it's so much fun to read - Isabel, as an ethical philosopher, always has to question the motives of everybody, including herself, concerning every word and action undertaken; her mind tends to dart off into little obscure asides, which I as a reader find completely delightful. McCall Smith is an extremely prolific writer, fielding a number of different series at the same time (the best-known of which is probably the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series) and publishing a good book or two in each one every year; yet that level of productivity doesn't reduce the quality of his writing at all. A joy; reocmmended! show less

I am Smith's number one fan, and it pains me to put only 3 stars on this review. Sadly, I feel that Isabel Dalhousie is beginning to run her course, or perhaps this story was simply a bit weak and there was a bigger than normal dollop of Isabel's constant inner philosophical monologue, which unfortunately broke the flow of the narrative a few too many times here. The mystery at hand, of a grown woman seeking her father, was interesting but every twist was predictable and took something away from its impact. All that said, I look forward to the next installment, as I am not prepared to give p on Isabel--yet.

I am Smith's number one fan, and it pains me to put only 3 stars on this review. Sadly, I feel that Isabel Dalhousie is beginning to run her course, or perhaps this story was simply a bit weak and there was a bigger than normal dollop of Isabel's constant inner philosophical monologue, which unfortunately broke the flow of the narrative a few too many times here. The mystery at hand, of a grown woman seeking her father, was interesting but every twist was predictable and took something away from its impact. All that said, I look forward to the next installment, as I am not prepared to give p on Isabel--yet.

How could it be that these just keep getting better? Or am I in a particular mood right now and this just fits? There is a quietly joyous tilt to these stories, a sense that right here, right now, just as we are, if we listen and pay attention that the events of our lives, the small events, the large, tilt toward the good. "Many of us lead our lives in the shadow of what we have lost."
Stepping out of this shadow: that's the thread we follow.

I really liked this one, a welcome relief after book 7 that seemed generally weak. McCall Smith's books are so soothing and civilized!

Thank you to Pantheon for providing me with a copy of this book to review.

I love the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Every spring I highly anticipate the new book in that series. While I love that series I just kind of really like the Sunday Philosophy Club, at least enough to keep reading each new entry. In this go around we find Isabel assisting a fellow visiting philosopher with investigating her family tree. As is often the case there is a tricky moral dilemma associated with this case and Isabel is left debating whether she did the correct thing. There are also some philosophical explorations of God and the meaning of living a spiritual life. Cat is as dismal and mean spirited as ever. I have lost patience with her and show more honestly can't see why Isabel keeps bothering with her. On the positive side Brother Fox has a son and a significant development is made in Isabel's personal life. You can count this in as another sweet and heart warming addition to the series. show less