The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse

Val Eliot is working on an English farm during the war when she meets Mike, a U.S. Air Force pilot stationed nearby. The two become close, and after Val rescues a border collie named Peter Woodhouse, who is being mistreated by his owner, she realizes the dog would actually be safer with Mike. Soon Peter Woodhouse settles into his new home on the air force base, and Val and Mike fall deeply in love. But when a disaster jeopardizes the future of them all, Peter Woodhouse brings Ubi, a German corporal, into their orbit, sparking a friendship that comes with great risk but carries with it the richest of rewards.
Infused with Alexander McCall Smith’s renowned charm and warmth, The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse is an uplifting story of love and the power of friendship to bring sworn enemies together.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Alexander McCall Smith:
„A writer who charms many readers . . . McCall Smith’s characters are well drawn and alive.“
–Providence Journal

„McCall Smith’s accomplished novels [are] dependent on small gestures redolent with meaning and main characters blessed with pleasing personalities . . . These novels are gentle probes into the mysteries of human nature.“
–Newsday

„McCall Smith’s novels are beautifully precise and psychologically acute.“
–The Independent (London)

„An excellent old-fashioned storyteller.“
–The Gazette

„McCall Smith’s generous writing and dry humor, his gentleness and humanity, and his ability to evoke a place and a set of characters without caricature or condescension have endeared his books to readers,“
–The New York Times

„A vivid observer and an elegant writer.“
–The Plain Dealer

– From the Publisher

02/15/2018
Val Eliot is a young „land girl“ in England during World War II who rides her bicycle to work on a local farm each day while the able-bodied men are in the service. Val lives with her Aunt Annie and a distant cousin Willy, and the whole community struggles to get by on wartime rations. When the family rescues an abused dog from a nearby farm, their lives begin to change. In a domino effect, the dog, Peter Woodhouse, brings an American airman and a German corporal into Val’s simple country life, causing her to reevaluate the definition of „enemy“ and „friend.“ In the style of Jan Karon and Philip Gulley, the author of the „No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency“ series reveals the extraordinary human spirit found in ordinary lives. VERDICT McCall Smith brings the trademark philosophy, solid characterization, and sense of place found in his contemporary series to this historical stand-alone. This gentle read possesses enough depth to do justice to a turbulent time period.–Christine Barth, Scott Cty. Lib. Syst., IA
– Library Journal