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    The Forgotten Affairs of Youth
    The Forgotten Affairs of Youth
    The Forgotten Affairs of Youth
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Forgotten Affairs of Youth

    Written by Alexander McCall Smith

    Narrated by Davina Porter

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In this eighth installment in Alexander McCall Smith's captivating Isabel Dalhousie series, our irrepressible heroine tries to untangle complex questions about both the past and the present. Isabel's new friend Jane Cooper, a visiting Australian philosopher who was adopted as a small child, has come to Edinburgh searching for information about her biological father. Naturally, Isabel is more than happy to offer her services. At the same time, she must find time for her own concerns: her young son Charlie, who's leaving babyhood further behind each day; her housekeeper Grace, who has recently begun getting financial advice from her spiritualist; her niece Cat, who's in a new relationship, and the most pressing question of all: when and how Isabel and Jamie will finally get married. As she investigates the forgotten affairs of youth Isabel begins to wonder what those affairs lead to in the present, and in the process she discovers a whole new understanding of the meaning of family.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateDec 6, 2011
    ISBN9781461847045
    The Forgotten Affairs of Youth
    Author

    Alexander McCall Smith

    Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the award-winning series The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and he now devotes his time to the writing of fiction, including the 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie series. He is the author of over eighty books on a wide array of subjects, and his work has been translated into forty-six languages. Before becoming a full-time writer he was for many years Professor of Medical Law at Edinburgh.

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    Reviews for The Forgotten Affairs of Youth

    4/5

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    • 2/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      Isabel Dalhousie looks at the world through the eyes of a philosopher. The publisher, editor and owner of the Review of Applied Ethics, she is continually weighing this and that, determining the proper, ethical behavior in a variety of situations. And readers are privy to the workings of her mind, thanks to an omniscient third-person narrator. In The Forgotten Affairs of Youth, Isabel agrees to help a woman her niece Cat, the owner of an Edinburgh coffee shop/deli, has befriended. Jane Cooper is a fellow-philosopher, Australian, and visiting the city to find out more about her deceased birth mother and, possibly, her father. Isabel’s probing intellect is perfect for this type of sleuthing, and she has plenty of experience.When I read a mystery (and this series barely meets that definition), typically I prefer the author to keep on topic and on task. Give me the mystery, give me a detective, and give me a solution. The Isabel Dalhousie novels don’t do that. The stories meander. But in this case, the author is easily forgiven: the stories are delightful and refreshingly unfocused, and Isabel is a wonderfully complex heroine. The relationship between Isabel and her much younger fiancé Jamie is ever present, but I’m not put off, as I usually am, by the romantic elements in this series. I even like their toddler Charlie – and I’m not a huge fan of either kids or romance in my mysteries. But Charlie is proving to be an amazing little kid, an interesting blend of mom and dad. The Isabel Dalhousie novels are quiet, cozy and altogether engaging, a great get-away-from-it-all read.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      Another little gem from Alexander McCall Smith... Excellent thinking, great writing...
    • 4/5
      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.