The Forgotten Affairs of Youth

by Alexander McCall Smith

Hardcover, 2011

Call number

FIC SMI

Publication

Pantheon (2011), Edition: 1st Us Edition, 272 pages

Description

Isabel Dalhousie helps a new friend discover the identity of her father. But Isabel also manages to find time for her own concerns: her young son, Charlie, already walking and talking; her housekeeper, Grace, whose spiritualist has lately been doubling as a financial adviser; her niece Cat's latest relationship; and the pressing question of when and how Isabel and Jamie should finally get married.

Media reviews

The Toronto Star

The principal mystery in McCall Smith’s latest novel featuring the wise but impish Edinburgh philosopher Isabel Dalhousie turns on a visiting Australian academic who is searching for her birth father. As usual, McCall Smith makes a little plot go a long way, mostly by dressing up Edinburgh with

countless small adventures and gentle observations.

Show Less

User reviews

LibraryThing member dsc73277

This may not be Nobel Prize winning material but, in my view, it still deserves a full five stars for succeeding in being exactly what it aims to be: a gentle and comforting read that is nonetheless aware of the pitfalls that await even those living the most privileged of lives. Financially secure

philosopher Isabel Dalhousie owns and edits and academic journal, when she is not losing time thinking too much or getting entangled in other people's business. In this installment of the series she assists a fellow philosopher who is seeking the identity of her natural father.

Show Less

15 more

LibraryThing member lynndp

This is the eighth Isabel Dalhousie story. In a nutshell, Isabel and Jamie get married. --- This isn't exactly the right word, but for me personally, the most recent Isabel stories have become just a bit too "precious". Will I read the next one? Yes, because when Isabel's thoughts are

interesting...they are very interesting. This book just didn't capture my imagination the way the earlier books did.

Show Less

LibraryThing member Clara53

Another little gem from Alexander McCall Smith... Excellent thinking, great writing...

LibraryThing member delphimo

Smith's Dalhousie series centers on philosophical attitudes. Sometimes I feel that Isabel is a little snobbish and self-centered. In this caper, Isabel aids a woman in the search of her biological father. Isabel and Jamie finally marry. Isabel reports her niece, Cat, to Environmental Health

department, which I feel is deplorable. Isabel is generous with her money, but seems snobbish in her handling of financial affairs. Isabel also jumps to quick assumptions on people, especially Cat's choice of men. Also, Isabel's obsessive behavior with her young son, Charlie, is humorous. The son eats olive and sardines and he is only 2.

Show Less

LibraryThing member arielfl

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 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

LibraryThing member khiemstra631

Isabel is back along with Jamie, Charlie and Grace. Charlie is now a toddler, beginning to talk and make his personality known to his parents. Meanwhile, a visiting philosopher from Australia, who was born in Scotland, enlists Isabel's help to find her birth father. There's the usual tension with

Cat at the delicatessen. All in all, it's more of the usual in the life of Isabel Dalhousie, and it's charming as usual. If you like Isabel, then you will enjoy this book.

Show Less

LibraryThing member PeskyLibrary

The Forgotten Affairs of Youth continues Alexander McCall Smith’s series of books centering on the Edinburghian philosopher Isabel Dalhousie, now a young mother. Two main things concern Isabel in this novel: her niece and a case of food poisoning, and tracking down the parents of an

Edinburgh-born Australian given up for adoption as a child.
I came onto McCall Smith and Dalhousie a complete novice: this is the first book by him I’ve read. There is no major plot in the sense that thrillers and mysteries have a (fast-paced) plot. Instead, most of the novel is spent on Isabel’s thoughts on what is happening in her life and whether what she is doing is actually what she should be doing. While McCall Smith gives enough information for newcomers to get the hang of things, long-time fans should get the most out of this skillfully written installation.
EJ 01/2012

Show Less

LibraryThing member Lynn_Barker

Isabel Dalhousie is a thinker. McCall Smith's narrative, as in the #1 Ladies... is slow-moving to accommodate her deep thoughts and delightful tangents. Dalhousie's friends often ask her what she is smiling about, which is the amusing thoughts that occur to her. In this novel, she assists a new

friend to trace her natural parents. Having visited Edinburgh once myself, I particularly appreciated the schematic map on the inside cover. It enables the reader to trace Isabel's movements around what she describes as a "spiky" city.

Show Less

LibraryThing member ccayne

Pleasant but weak. I absolutely cannot picture Isabel as a young woman and I don't know why. In my mind, she's about 45 yet I know she's not.

LibraryThing member 4leschats

When Isabel meets a woman searching for her birth father, she agrees to help as usual. Other elements of family from Grace calling herself Charlie’s aunt, Isabel’s relationship with Cat, her engagement and pending marriage to Jamie, meeting Dove’s nephew, as well as reflecting on past

relationships allows Isabel to see the complexities of how we define family. As usual Isabel's reflections turn philosophical.

Show Less

LibraryThing member baystateRA

Another excellent narration by Davina Porter! Eighth in a sequence of books about classy, middle-aged Isabel Dalhousie, owner/editor of a philosophy journal and everyday philosopher, this seemed a little light on surprises, but does move the story of Isabel and her younger lover Jamie along. Still

has plenty of Isabel's musings and sharpish thoughts (the latter of which she mostly manages to keep to herself.)

Show Less

LibraryThing member ritaer

Not actually much detection or mystery in this installment of the life of moral philosopher Isabel Dalhousie. Perhaps the audio version made me more aware of the extreme talkiness of the book, since one cannot skim. Enjoyable, but does drag a bit.

LibraryThing member flydodofly

I do not understand why I keep doing it: I go to the library, get a bunch of books, and one of them is a McCall Smith one. I read it, and think to myself that I will not get another one, because they are a waste of reading time, somehow. I cannot explain exactly what I mean. I expect books to

reveal something new, to make me think, to entertain. His books do not do any of the above, but I still read them, and I do not stop until I get to the end. Reading McCall Smith's books is almost like not reading them, they are so easy to read, inoffensive, innocuous, almost like drinking a glass of water. I do not know whether I look forward to the next one or not, but I am sure it will come my way...

Show Less

LibraryThing member lhaines56

An Australian philosopher comes to Scotland and meets up with Isabel in hopes of tracing her real parents. I hadn't realized how far ahead I had jumped into the series and she and Jame are together with a baby!!!!

LibraryThing member Bookish59

The Isabel Dalhousie series, like McCall-Smith's other series, are love stories. Stories featuring personal love as Isabel feels toward Jamie and Charlie; love of many friends, including her bristly housekeeper Grace, national love (in a GOOD inclusive way) toward Scotland, its tumultuous history,

music and art.

Love of justice, of doing the right thing. That is why she agrees to help those who request her assistance. Isabel is compelled to seek out the truth of each situation, right wrongs if possible, using understanding and kindness. She recognizes her own weaknesses i.e. disliking Dove and Lettuce, fellow philosphers who attempt to press their own selfish agendas on her, as well as her frustration with her niece, Cat.

The Forgotten Affairs of Youth continues highlighting Isabel's intelligence, introspection, humanity, generosity, and gratitude.

We can all learn from McCall-Smith's novels.

Show Less

LibraryThing member JudyGibson

This book was boring. Nothing happened, though the main character did think about things a lot--which I guess is okay, since she is a philosopher, but it isn't very interesting. If it is supposed to be a mystery (that's where it was in the library), I don't see why. I'm taking it off my Mystery

shelf.

Show Less

Fewer