What a perfect book to wrap up my reading challenge for 2023!
The Isabel Dalhousie books by the amazingly prolific Alexander McCall Smith are my favorite among his many successful series. Set in contemporary Edinburgh, they chronicle the life of Isabel, a philosopher, her somewhat younger husband Jamie, a classical musician, their two little boys, and their housekeeper, Grace.
Isabel is a philosopher who edits and publishes a magazine devoted to ethics, and is a person who others come to for help with their personal problems and dilemmas. The series, and in particular this volume, explores how she (and we) cope with the challenges of modern life and its conflicts.
Isabel leads a very comfortable and appealing life, but though she is well off financially, has a loving and handsome spouse, and healthy children, she takes nothing for granted. She knows well that she leads something of a charmed life, and is aware of the good fortune that allows her to pursue her career, which is certainly not one that exposes her to what most of the rest of the working world experiences.
I am always just a little amazed how well McCall Smith writes from the woman's point of view. He seems so adept at understanding how women balance their personal, professional and inner lives.
He also presents the moral and ethical problems Isobel is called on to solve with a light, yet insightful and profound touch. It is impossible not to enjoy these books or come away with the positive feeling that all could somehow be right with the world if we would only make the effort.
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