The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse : A Novel of Love and War

by Alexander McCall Smith

From the beloved and best-selling author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series comes a heartwarming tale of hope and friendship set amid the turmoil of World War II.

Val Eliot, a young woman working on an English farm during the war, meets Mike, a U.S. Air Force pilot stationed nearby. When 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. And so Peter Woodhouse finds a new home on the air force base, and Val finds herself falling in love. Peter Woodhouse becomes Dog First Class, a canine mascot on the base who boldly accompanies the officers on their missions, and Val becomes Mike's fiancée. But then a disaster jeopardizes the future of them all, and 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.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, World War II, Historical, British Literature, War

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 2017

About the author

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland. Visit him online at www.alexandermccallsmith.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Reviews

[Phrynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Alexander McCall Smith is like eating ice cream. It is a sweet treat with absolutely no unpleasant surprises. His books are always beautifully written and a pleasure to read.

The Good Pilot, Peter Woodhouse is a story of the war and the way it affected the lives of ordinary people. There is a beautiful dog called Peter Woodhouse who plays a very important role and there is a love affair which is honest and realistic. The author shows that there is always more than one side to a conflict and that both sides demonstrate the good and the bad.

This is not really a happy book. The ending rings true. Life is not always the way we would like it but there are always highlights and consolations. This author’s books are definitely one of my highlights!

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The vicar’s cracked shoes projected from under his white cassock, the hem of which was frayed, as everything was after five years of war and the shortages that war brought. There was even a smell to parsimony, some said: a thin, musty smell of things used beyond their natural life, of materials patched up, cobbled together, persuaded to do whatever it was they did well after they should have been retired. And it was true of people too – with both young men and young women in uniform, those left behind to do the day-to-day jobs seemed tired, overworked, made to carry on with their duties well after they should have been pensioned off. And now the vicar looked up at his small congregation and took a deep breath, as if summoning up for the task ahead what little energy he had left.”

The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse is a stand-alone novel by popular British author, Alexander McCall-Smith. Nineteen-year-old Val Eliot is a Land Girl, who lives with the village Postmistress, her Aunt Annie. She’s assigned to Archie Wilkinson and working hard on his farm to help the war effort. The Americans at the nearby airbase need more eggs, so Val delivers them on her bike and, over three dozen accidentally smashed eggs, she meets an American pilot whose name, no, is not Peter Woodhouse, but Mike Rogers. Romance follows.

Meanwhile, Val’s distant cousin, Willy Birks, also staying at Annie’s house, is working at the farm owned by Ted Butters. Willy may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he loves animals and hates the way Ted Butters treats his. One afternoon he arrives home with a badly beaten young sheepdog, Peter Woodhouse, so named for a delightful reason not revealed here so will require reading this charming wartime romance. Because that’s just the beginning.

There’s a plane crash and a pregnancy and some brave and helpful cloggies and a German corporal who hates the war. There’s the Berlin blockade and the rescue of a good man and his nephew, and plenty more. And throughout, there’s McCall Smith’s gentle philosophy and his charming characters and his evocative descriptive prose, as follows.

“The towel was clean and smelled of something he could not quite place. And then he remembered: it was lavender. It was one of the familiar smells that had simply gone from his memory, replaced by the overpowering smells of war: smoke, burning rubber, the stink of putrefaction. There was even a smell for fear – a sharp, uneasy tang that was something to do with the sweat of frightened men. And now the smell of lavender came back to him, and as he pressed the towel to his face he felt the urge to weep.”

There’s every chance that Alexander McCall Smith could insert some gentle philosophy into his grocery list and make it just as delightful to read as this novel. Enjoyable and entertaining, as always.

[Katy O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

ALL THE STARS.
*
Oh, ALEXANDER. You restore my faith in humanity and reset my heart with every single book I read of yours. EVERY. SINGLE. BOOK. I am overjoyed that I saw the ad for this one in BookPage and requested it from my library, and then inhaled it in a day so I could return it the day it was due.
*
Here's the gist of this one, and just know it made me so, so, so happy ~ it's slightly bittersweet, but so is life, right? World War II set in England, Holland, and Germany + LOVE + lifelong friendships + OMG A BORDER COLLIE. You guys!!! A BORDER COLLIE stars in this book. It's not a book with a dog as a character talking or anything like that, but the rescued border collie named Peter Woodhouse has a major part in the story and it made me so so so so so happy. (And yes, I have a border collie and yes, he's a rescue!).
*
Highly recommended to anyone looking for a heartwarming historical fiction read.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grab everything I can from Alexander McCall Smith and run home with it like a squirrel with a nut. When I bit into this one I was surprised because it has a great flavor but not what I was expecting. This is McCall Smith with the quirkiness taken away. What I appreciated the most is reading an unvarnished account of how the War effected civilians in Europe on both sides of the conflict. The deprivations and hardships were related to the reader with a spare dignity. I liked the humanity represented by the dog Peter Woodhouse. Such an amazing writer whose sole aim is the celebration of the human spirit no matter how he chooses to write.

[Kenneth Iltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I want a book with just a good story and a happy ending I look for the most recent book by Alexander McCall Smith. The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse was a delight. He won't win the Pulitzer but he is a superb story teller. Put this on your list. It would be a good, light, summer read at the beach or on the airplane ride to your favorite vacation spot.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of AMS’s stand-alone books. The story takes place during World War Two. We follow the following people: Val a young woman from the village that is sent to work on a farm; Mike is an American pilot that falls in love with Val; Ubi is a German officer, and most important is a Border Collie dog named Peter Woodhouse. We follow them during and after the war.

I enjoy AMS’s books. They always leave me feeling happy and satisfied. Of course, some of his books leave me pondering a moral issue. If you are looking for a good story written by a master storyteller then this book is for you.

I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is six hours and twenty-nine minutes. David Rintout does an excellent job narrating the book. He has a rich melodic voice that is easy to listen to. Rintout is a well-known audiobook narrator. He is a classically trained Scottish actor and has won many Earphone Awards for his audiobook narrations.

[Marilyn Fontane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Good Pilot, Peter Woodhouse by Alexander McCall Smith is a deceptively excellent novel. When I finished it last night, I was thinking of awarding it only two stars. But as I thought about it, I realized it deserved at least four, maybe five stars. On the surface it seems so simple, but it is really highly complex, and the simplicity comes from the gentle way McCall Smith presents the horror of WWII. No deaths actually occur in the novel; they are either presented calmly after the fact (Ubi receives notice of Mike's death (long after the fact) from a commanding officer who is answering Ubi's request for information about how to reach him) or the reader realizes the death has happened (Val and Ilse, who have been friends and pen pals since Ilse's visit to England when her husband was alive, years later tour Europe on a motorcycle together as two widows) or (Val tells her son Tommy that they used to have a dog named Peter Woodhouse) by the lack of that person in the story.
And yet, the absence of death of named characters during the action of the story does not prevent McCall Smith from showing us the horrors faced during the last few years of the war--or even the years afterwards when Berlin was located in the Russian sector. Ubi has to shoot in the air and then throw rocks at Peter Woodhouse to chase him away to a void killing him as required by his commanding officer. Having made it to Berlin to find his family and having learned that both his mother and sister are dead and his sister's son is being taken care of by one of her former friends, Ubi discovers that the coat he bought the boy to keep him warm is sold--apparently to feed the woman who took on the keeping of that boy in spite of not having enough to live on herself. The rubble, the lack of familiar landmarks which have been totally blotted out, the stench of bodies rotting in the ruins let the reader know how awful the situation is without the emotional tug of thinking of characters they have learned to love being hurt themselves.
The complex plot veers back and forth between two couples: Val, an English girl, and her lover Mike, an American airman, who is stationed in England to pilot a reconnaissance plane to photograph areas for others to bomb, but who gets shot down in Holland anyway not knowing that Val is pregnant (and obviously unmarried). The second couple is Ubi, a Nazi Feldwebel (corporal) who not only lets Peter Woodhouse live, but also lets an elderly Dutch couple hide Mike and his navigator in their attic when he discovers they own Peter Woodhouse, and Ilse, a widow who runs an small inn who hires Ubi and then falls in love with him enough to not only marry him but to adopt his nephew Klaus who he brings back from Berlin even though his father was an unknown black American soldier.
Who is the central protagonist? Val and Ilse ride off into the Italian sunset at the end of the novel, but both only help the men they love. Mike continues on with the air force delivering life saving commodities to Berliners long after the war, but he leaves the scene early. Ubi saves not only Peter Woodhouse but also Mike and his navigator in Holland, helps Ilse to retain her inn and even her Motodrom, sneaks into Berlin to find his family and saves his nephew Klaus by sneaking him into Western Germany; he seems the most heroic of the four. The novel is named for Peter Woodhouse, the Border collie who rode the plane with Mike on his missions to Europe, and certainly he cements the two couples together since Ubi saves not only his life, but his owners' life as well, but he actually is more a part of the setting, rather than an actor. Willy is another possibility, even though he is "slow." He is the first person to save Peter Woodhouse from a nasty farmer who beats animals; he takes care of Peter Woodhouse after the war when Mike is helping the Berliners (and apparently is there at his death); he is Tommy's godfather and takes his role so seriously that eventually Val marries him; he is a good person, but then so are all the main characters. The few minor characters who are in any way evil, English farmer Ted Butters who first owned and beat Peter Woodhouse and the German Oberfeldwebel who told Ubi to kill Peter Woodhouse for biting him, have very minor roles--they reveal evil exists but are not dwelt upon.
All the characters are good, decent people (German, British, American, whatever) caught in a maddening nightmare. And nothing terrible happens to them in the confines of the novel--nothing terrible should (Mike is not killed when his plane is shot down; Ubi is not caught for helping the enemy; Val is married when tommy is born; Ilse is able to keep he inn). Even in a WWII setting McCall Smith's world is gentle, humane. This novel can show the realistic horror of WWII and still keep up a belief in the goodness of man. Maybe it takes multiple protagonists to show mankind, not one super individual, is good.
There is nothing simple about it.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The vicar’s cracked shoes projected from under his white cassock, the hem of which was frayed, as everything was after five years of war and the shortages that war brought. There was even a smell to parsimony, some said: a thin, musty smell of things used beyond their natural life, of materials patched up, cobbled together, persuaded to do whatever it was they did well after they should have been retired. And it was true of people too – with both young men and young women in uniform, those left behind to do the day-to-day jobs seemed tired, overworked, made to carry on with their duties well after they should have been pensioned off. And now the vicar looked up at his small congregation and took a deep breath, as if summoning up for the task ahead what little energy he had left.”

The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse is a stand-alone novel by popular British author, Alexander McCall-Smith. The audio version is narrated by Rupert Degas. Nineteen-year-old Val Eliot is a Land Girl, who lives with the village Postmistress, her Aunt Annie. She’s assigned to Archie Wilkinson and working hard on his farm to help the war effort. The Americans at the nearby airbase need more eggs, so Val delivers them on her bike and, over three dozen accidentally smashed eggs, she meets an American pilot whose name, no, is not Peter Woodhouse, but Mike Rogers. Romance follows.

Meanwhile, Val’s distant cousin, Willy Birks, also staying at Annie’s house, is working at the farm owned by Ted Butters. Willy may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he loves animals and hates the way Ted Butters treats his. One afternoon he arrives home with a badly beaten young sheepdog, Peter Woodhouse, so named for a delightful reason not revealed here so will require reading this charming wartime romance. Because that’s just the beginning.

There’s a plane crash and a pregnancy and some brave and helpful cloggies and a German corporal who hates the war. There’s the Berlin blockade and the rescue of a good man and his nephew, and plenty more. And throughout, there’s McCall Smith’s gentle philosophy and his charming characters and his evocative descriptive prose, as follows.

“The towel was clean and smelled of something he could not quite place. And then he remembered: it was lavender. It was one of the familiar smells that had simply gone from his memory, replaced by the overpowering smells of war: smoke, burning rubber, the stink of putrefaction. There was even a smell for fear – a sharp, uneasy tang that was something to do with the sweat of frightened men. And now the smell of lavender came back to him, and as he pressed the towel to his face he felt the urge to weep.”

There’s every chance that Alexander McCall Smith could insert some gentle philosophy into his grocery list and make it just as delightful to read as this novel. Enjoyable and entertaining, as always.

[Mark Iliff · Rating 2 out of 5]

I rather enjoyed McCall Smith’s Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, before it descended into formulaic repetition, so thought I’d give this a go.

While it is written gently and sympathetically, the story itself – actually three separate stories crudely lashed together – is all a bit peremptory. What could have been dramatic turning points are foreseeable well in advance, and often happen off-stage while we’re being shown something trivial. Several characters, including the eponymous Peter Woodhouse (a dog), just slip out of the story without further mention. And nobody ever seems to have a single emotion, with the partial exception of Willy – the only character rendered in full 3D – who is an interesting and complex presence until he is disappeared.

It really is rather lame.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. There were parts of this novel that I absolutely loved, including the dog character, who was my favorite, but I found the split story aspect kind of jarring at times. The German soldier, Ubi, was integral to the plot, but I wasn't nearly as interested in what happened to him as I was in the life and thoughts of the main character, Val. He and the characters to whom he was linked just didn't interest me all that much. But as to Val, Mike, Willy, Archie and the rest - I could have had a whole book focused on them and been very happy with it.

[Carolyn Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.
I was delighted to receive an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and Random House in exchange for an honest review.

Alexander McCall Smith has been a longtime favourite author of mine, and he doesn’t disappoint. His style appears simple and I find all his books readable. His stories are comfortable and relaxing. It is a pleasure to get to know his characters, most are fundamentally good and likeable people. Some even lovable. Under the surface his writing contains much compassion, wit and wisdom with a gentle philosophy that gives the reader a lot to think about.

This story emphasizes love, loss,kindness and unlikely and enduring friendships. There is much that is heartwarming but also tragedy and heartbreak. There is also a theme of forgiveness.

The setting of this standalone novel is England two years into WW2, Occupied Holland and Germany after its defeat. Conditions. in Britain are grim with rationing and young able bodied men away engaged in war. Land girls are sent to help farmers plant and harvest their crops. Val is one of these young women. She lives with her Aunt Annie and a distant cousin Willy. Val rides her bicycle each day to work for Archie, a kindly elderly farmer and my favourite. A very good man.

Cousin Willy is a decent, helpful young man, but mentally slow. He works for a disagreeable farmer who mistreats his animals. One day Willy rescues a dog named Peter Woodhouse who is the target of cruel beatings. The dog becomes a connection between the story’s main characters.

America has joined the war and Val falls in love with a pilot stationed at the USA base. He is flying over Holland with the dog when his plane crashes in German occupied territory. They survive the crash and are hidden by locals. They are helped and saved by a young German soldier, Ubi, who also saves Peter Woodhouse after being ordered to shoot him.

We follow Ubi in the devastated Germany in the aftermath of the war. People are starving, buildings destroyed, at mercy of Russians bent on revenge. Ubi spends time as prisoner of war, then searches for any relative or friend who may have survived. The story takes us to the Berlin airlift.

I recommend this book to fans of McCall’s stories. Of all his many ongoing series, Scotland Street is my favourite.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pilot may be good... but the book is not. I am a BIG Alexander McCall Smith fan but this book disappointed. It's plot was predictable and the characters flat. One of Smith's best qualities as an author is making characters come to life and endearing themselves to the reader... however these characters were rushed and very forgettable. Wanted to love the book. Couldn't.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another delightful AMS. The eponymous character is a rescued border collie that plays a minor but pivotal role in the story. Set during WWII in England and Germany,it tells of love and friendship between young people on opposing sides. AMS is a great characterist (I think I just made up a word for a writer who primarily creates characters, rather than being primarily a descriptive or complicated plot writer.) (Now I need to make up a word that defines a reviewer's parenthetical overuse.) Each of his characters is unique and memorable. Thank you, AMS, for giving me several hours of bliss.

[Fern A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a heartwarming gentle story in which you know everything will be alright in the end and all ends nicely tied up. Set during the Second World War, Peter Woodhouse, a border collie, is rescued from the farm he lives on. He eventually finds his way to being a mascot for an aviation base. This is the story not so much about Peter Woodhouse but the people he meets along the way and their lives. A perfect rainy Sunday afternoon read.

[Livia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse takes place during the latter years of World War II. Val Elliott is a British Land Girl, hired out to a local farmer to work the land and contribute to the war effort. During this time the US Army Air Force sets up an airbase near the farm and contracts with Val's boss to provide eggs to the base cook. Val is assigned to deliver the eggs on a daily basis and it is where she meets a young American pilot named Mike.

The relationship between Val and Mike is a typical wartime romance, enhanced by their mutual love of a rescued border collie name Peter Woodhouse. The dog becomes quite a fixture at the airbase and frequently tags along with the Americans on their flight missions. It is during one of these flights that Mike's plane is shot down and the entire crew including Peter Woodhouse is presumed dead. Not knowing the truth puts everything in limbo for all concerned and as the war rages on new relationships are forged with unlikely results.

The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse is a wonderful historical that captures the wartime experiences of those that lived and served in Great Britain, Holland and Germany. Each character has a significant outcome that contributes positively to the story and keeps the reader riveted until the last page. This one is a must read!

[Scott County Library System · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review was first published in Library Journal on February 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 coutnry 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

[Pam Tickner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy McCall Smith's stand alone books - also try The Italian Bulldozer. A snap shot of war told from both sides, not so much the fighting but how every individual is affected by sacrifice and the loss of loved ones. I loved Peter Woodhouse, he is the thread that weaves between the stories. An easy and quick read but satisfying to feel that goodness and hope will prevail even in the worst of times.

[Charlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short, stand alone novel by one of my favorite authors. There are good things about this book, I suspect the reflections on an England exhausted by WWII are spot on. But it just was a little flat, a little too simple, and rather sad. Maybe the sad part is what I had the hard time with from this author.

[Donna Magoun Vantassel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started as a really good book, but the last section was so disappointing, it was like the author got to the end and just wanted to be done so he finished it without putting any thought into it. The last line was great but the last chapter who cared. Always sad when that happens

[Kathleen]

Excellent narration for the audiobook. I do like this author, and have enjoyed several of his series, particularly the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. So good! In fact, Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency became a television series.

This book, set during WWII and afterwards, is enjoyable. Some parts are very good, especially when Mike, an American pilot, is behind enemy lines in Holland. But the impact was diluted by the cobbling together of characters and events in England, and Holland, and Germany. Still, as I say, some parts were great. I loved the German officer, Ubi. It was refreshing to find a positive German character — a reluctant soldier, an unwilling Nazi, a decent human being.

In England, Valerie /Val and other women join the “Land Army” to help famers raise crops, as most of the men are off to war. I really liked the character of Willy, who is a bit slow mentally but still very capable. I also enjoyed the characterization of the old farmer Archie. I enjoyed the scenes where they rescued an abused border collie. They named the dog Peter Woodhouse, and there’s a story behind that name.

I had expected that the “good pilot” Peter Woodhouse would be more like the story The Dog Who Could Fly: The Incredible True Story of a WWII Airman and the Four-Legged Hero Who Flew At His Side, an audiobook I very much enjoyed.

Alexander McCall Smith is always a sure pick for me. He writes with humor and humanity and heart, and with a wide understanding of history, people, and places.

[Thereadingbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

Then, the American Airforce arrives with their tinned peaches and chocolate, and Archie is asked to provide a regular supply of eggs. Whilst delivering the eggs on her bike, Val meets the handsome pilot, Mike Rogers, and falls for his kind nature. When Mike's plane goes down over Holland, Val is left bereft.

Over the period of the war, and afterwards, relationships are formed in the most unlikely of circumstances, and all of the major characters connect in one way or another.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book from many angles. I found it different to my usual reads. Yes there was the expected romance but also the story of the "good pilot" and in particular I was interested in seeing the views of the German and Dutch characters at the end of World War 2 and the aftermath .The impact of the Berlin Airlift was an unusual part of the story. A memorable book from the point of view of the characters and the plot.

[Kathleen Crimm · Rating 4 out of 5]

sweet, sweet, sweet. just enough bitter to make it true. but sweet and wholly enjoyable.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet historical fiction with the love of a dog transcending age, nationality, and even war.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely, sweet little read from McCall Smith which I really enjoyed.

[Lori Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple and touching story simply told. It would make a great movie. I read this book because I really enjoyed the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books by the same author.

[Elite Group · Rating 4 out of 5]

A heart-warming wartime romance

A standalone novel by this popular author.

The Americans have entered WW2 which means that at the start of the book, Britain has been at war with Germany for two to three years and the population has come to terms with the regulations and rationing.

Val is a landgirl working for friendly farmer Archie; she lives with her Aunt Annie in the village, along with a distant cousin, Willy, who is a little slow. Willy hasn't been as lucky and is working on Ted Butter's farm where life is harsh and cruelty is never far away. It is through Willy that a mistreated dog, Peter Woodhouse, is liberated from Butter's beatings.

Then, the American airforce arrives with their tinned peaches and chocolate, and Archie is asked to provide a regular supply of eggs. Whilst delivering the eggs on her bike, Val meets the handsome pilot, Mike Rogers, and falls for his kind nature. When Mike's plane goes down over Holland, Val is left bereft.

Whilst any other author would take the reader into the sheer misery of war, McCall Smith is unerringly hopeful and most of his characters embody a fundamental decency.

Over the period of the war, and afterwards, relationships are formed in the most unlikely of circumstances, and all of the major characters connect in one way or another.

McCall Smith is particularly skilled in developing his characters and the reader is drawn into what is essentially a story of love and friendships.

An easy read, it is really enjoyable if you like a simple plot and a decisive ending. I would have awarded five stars had it not been somewhat soppy and unlikely at times!

Pashtpaws


Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

[Sidharth Kriplani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh well.

I shall not lie, I mistook this book to have been written by Wodehouse while quickly swiping through the list of unread books on my kindle. Only later did I realize, when I was already a significant number of pages into it, that I was wrong. Alexander McCall Smith, that's the author. And he does a fine job of knitting a heartwarming tale set around WW2.
Central characters abound, this short one could not have had a better title than the "grand" name that most dogs never come to have, even though many are strikingly similar to Woodhouse in spittle and yelps alike.
The pace was uniform and consistent throughout; nothing seemed too stretched out and no loose ends were left untied. There were deaths as they were supposed to be in a war and there were deaths that happened naturally but hope and courage was everywhere. The women showed a lot of it, Val and Ilse and Annie.
The character development happened without much complaints from my side. Archie, Ted, Willy, Mike, Ubi, all of them except one were good men with criss crossed paths that seemed surprising but maybe war did that, to people.
The story went through Berlin and England and America, a complete round trip, almost, through the war.

The part that I liked the most about it was that this was a linear storyline complete with a little war adventure and then the recuperations and repurcussions.

"We had a dog you know, a dog with a funny name."
"He was called Peter Woodhouse. And you know what? He sometimes went off with your dad in his plane. He was what they called a mascot."

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the book delightful. I am a big fan of Alexander McCall Smith. The story is set during WWII in England. The characters are well written and could be your neighbors or friends. It is an easy read and it made me think some what differently about the Germans after the war. I think part of the reason I liked it as well as I did was because the characters valued the same things I do. They are believable as much as fiction can be.

[Nola Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually listened to the audiobook of this but couldn't find that edition here. The book starts off in wartime England, where a young woman called Val works as a land girl on one of the local farms. She lives with her aunt Annie and a young man called Willie who has a kind heart but is a bit slow. The Peter Woodhouse of the title is a dog that Willie rescues from an abusive farmer. When Val falls in love with American airman Mike, Peter Woodhouse becomes a mascot for the air force and even accompanies Mike on missions. During one such mission, they're shot down. Will Mike and Peter Woodhouse survive? Will Val see them again? And what of the German soldier Ubi? Will human kindness win out over war or will he stick to his orders?

This is a slow, meandering tale, but I couldn't help be absorbed by it. I thought it was just going to cover the war years, but it goes well beyond that into the restoration work in Germany and the role American service personnel played in that. I didn't know much about that era, so it was interesting. The characters are well-drawn and I cared about them. Ubi's story interweaves with the others, which also brought a different perspective.

The omniscient point-of-view was a bit distant at times. Some scenes would have been more emotional if told in a different way. Yet the omniscient POV did allow for glimpses into what different characters were doing. Like all of Alexander McCall Smith's books, it had a lot of heart. However, it was a little drawn out.

This is only the second audiobook I've ever listened to, and I think it really added to the experience. The narrator, Rupert Degas, was excellent at different voices and accents. I see from the back cover blurb that he has narrated more than 150 books, as well as working on Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine. It makes such a difference to have a great voice actor read a book. I felt at times like I was listening to one of those old-fashioned radio serials (in a good way).

If you like Alexander McCall's Smith's quiet, gentle storytelling, you'll find much to enjoy in this book.