The forever girl

Format:

Audio disc

Title:

The forever girl

Author:

McCall Smith, Alexander, 1948- author.

ISBN:

9781470340636

Edition:

Unabridged.

Publication:

Prince Frederick, MD : Recorded Books, [2014]

Physical Description:

9 audio discs (10 hr., 30 min.) ; 4 3/4 in.

General Note:

Title from disc label.

"With tracks every 3 minutes for easy book marking"--Container

Summary:

At age 4, Thursday chooses her own name. At age 6, she falls in love with her best friend, James, with whom she happily spends all her time. But in the adult world, things are not so simple: at the same time that Thursday's mother finds she's fallen out of love with her husband, she realizes that James's father is interested in her. As the children grow into adulthood, their connection becomes more complicated as well: James drifts away from Thursday, but she keeps him in her sights: she attends the same college in Scotland and then follows him to London, Sydney, Singapore, rebuilding her life in every city, hoping each time that James will see what he is missing. As Thursday and James, and their parents, navigate their irresistible but baffling mazes of emotion, we are given a beautifully realized tale about how love, even if unrequited, can shape a life.

Subject(s):

Man-woman relationships -- Fiction.

Families -- Fiction.

Grand Cayman Island (Cayman Islands) -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Grand Cayman Island (Cayman Islands) -- Fiction.

Cayman Islands -- Grand Cayman Island.

Genre:

Added Author:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	CD McCall Smith, A.	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

The author of the best-selling and universally adored No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series now gives us The Forever Girl, a novel about love and following one' s heart, and the unexpected places to which this can lead us. Amanda and her husband, David, feel fortunate to be raising their son and daughter in the close-knit community of ex-pats on Grand Cayman Island, an idyllic place for children to grow up. Their firstborn, Sally, has always listened to her heart, deciding at age four that she would rather be called Clover and then, a few years later, falling in love with her best friend, James. But the comforting embrace of island life can become claustrophobic for adults, especially when they are faced with difficult situations. At the same time that Clover falls in love with James, Amanda realizes that she has fallen out of love with David . . . and that she is interested in someone else. While Amanda tries to navigate the new path her heart is leading her down, Clover finds, much to her dismay, that James seems to be growing away from her. And when they leave the island for boarding school-- James to England and Clover to Scotland-- she feels she may have lost him for good. As Clover moves on to university, seldom seeing James but always carrying him in her heart, she finds herself torn between a desire to go forward with her life and the old feelings that she just can' t shed. Through the lives of Clover and James, and Amanda and David, acclaimed storyteller Alexander McCall Smith tells a tale full of love and heartbreak, humor and melancholy, that beautifully demonstrates the myriad ways in which love shapes our lives.

Author Notes

Alexander McCall Smith was born on August 24, 1948 in Zimbabwe. He was a professor of medical law at the University of Edinburgh, but he left in 2005 to focus on his writing. He has written over 60 books, including specialist academic titles including Forensic Aspects of Sleep and The Criminal Law of Botswana, short story collections including Portuguese Irregular Verbs, and children's books including The Perfect Hamburger. He is best known for the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. He also writes the Corduroy Mansions, Isabel Dalhousie and 44 Scotland Street series.

He has received numerous awards, including The Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library Award and the 2004 United Kingdom's Author of the Year Award. His book, The Full Cupboard of Life, received the Saga Award for Wit in the United Kingdom. In 2007, he received a CBE for his services in literature.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Smith (Trains and Lovers) sets his latest novel in Grand Cayman's community of wealthy expatriates. Amanda raises two children, Clover and Billy, while her husband David shows "[interest] in figures and money and not much else." Though tempted to begin a love affair with local doctor George Collins, Amanda chooses to move to Scotland instead, where she enrolls her children in boarding school. The novel's first half devotes an occasional chapter to young Clover, who asserts that George's son, James, is "the one [she] want[s]." The second half essentially abandons Amanda's story and follows her daughter to university in Edinburgh. Smith makes nothing of that the connection between Amanda and Clover falling for different generations of the same family, and the novel suffers greatly from its commitment to restraint. There is much talk of passion-George describes love as "discovering the map that you've been looking for all your life and have never been able to find"-but there is little evidence of that passion in the characters. Readers never have a clear sense of anyone's physicality, and Clover's love for James is largely founded on the fact that he is "kind." The prose is cool and reserved, though the story-a story of love that leads a woman all over the globe-begs for more warmth and intensity. Agent: Robin Straus, Robin Straus Agency. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Until roughly 15 years ago, with the breakaway success of his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, McCall Smith was a professor of medical law and ethics at the University of Edinburgh. His training in and fascination with ethics, especially concerning lying and deception, are much in evidence here. This stand-alone novel could almost be used as an extended case study on the staggering effects any lie or deception may have, no matter how seemingly justifiable. On the surface, the novel is a contemporary love story, actually two, or maybe one and a half, since unrequited love is a big question mark throughout. The two points of view are those of a tennis mom and her teen daughter, who live in the tax haven of Grand Cayman Island. Both mother and daughter confront the kind of passion that McCall Smith presents as just happening, like the weather. But then what happens? The fascinating core of the book tackles this question, with McCall Smith tracing choices, zeroing in especially on the mother's choices and their unintended consequences. The fallout is heightened by being entirely believable. The novel moves from Grand Cayman to Scotland and then to Australia and Singapore without losing focus. What may seem like an ordinary love tangle is a very rich stew of contemporary mores and a great stage for both comedy and heartbreak.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2014 Booklist