The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse
ISBN:
9781846974090
Publisher:
Polygon
Publication Date:
28th October 2018 by Polygon
The Good Pilot is a stand alone novel, a wartime romance spanning the years from 1944 to the 1970s.
Val was working as a land girl when the Americans arrived at the nearby airfield in 1944. Mike, a young American airman, came into her life soon after, and so too did Peter Woodhouse, a dog badly treated on a neighbouring farm and taken in by her aunt.
Little persuasion was needed for Mike to take Peter Woodhouse to the airbase and over time he became the mascot of the American squad, flying with them whenever their Mosquitoes took to the skies. When their plane is shot down over Holland both Mike and his canine companion are feared lost.
But unknown to their loved ones at home, Mike and Peter Woodhouse (the Good Pilot from the book’s title) survived the crash. Taken in by the Dutch resistance and with the help of Ubi, a German officer, the pair remain in hiding until the end of the war when they are reunited with Val. We then follow Val, Mike and Peter Woodhouse as they rebuild a life in England. And Ubi as he returns to Germany at the end of the war and tries to build a new life for himself.
Reviews
“Though he does not shy away from sadness, AMS always manages to emphasise the joy, and the love, and the small happinesses that make up all of our lives. I am once more back to waiting for the next book (thank goodness he writes so many!), because I devoured this far too quickly!”
thebookbag.co.uk
“Period pet lit from a pro”
The Mail on Sunday: Books of the Year
“I think it was Ian Rankin who claimed that as global politics becomes more turbulent, the world will increasingly find itself in need of Alexander McCall Smith’s heart-warming novels, and he is right. The latest McCall Smith opus, The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse, is a gentle romp through the world of land girls, war-time romance and an exceptional pet—the amusingly-named sheepdog that gives the book its title… Of course, the story is not all happiness for Peter and his friends—there are trials and tragedies along the way. But fans of McCall Smith’s other work will not be disappointed”
The Scotsman
“sensitive and gently told”
Sarah Broadhurst, Book of the Month, LoveReading.co.uk
“In his delicately insightful style, McCall Smith bring to life the dark and troubled time of World War II… The storyline is simple but so beautifully embellished that every page brings to life the hardship, love, fear, terror and happiness of a time in history which bought out the best and worst in humanity, allowing the passage of time to wind through the imagination, gently captivating the reader.
The detail as always with the written word crafted by McCall Smith is as if a painter had taken a brush and captured in cameo, a time and place, painting it with the richness that is life in all its many guises”
bluewolf-reviews.com
