This is Alexander McCall Smith at his best, exploring the tender relations across enemy lines. ( )

Nice little story from the master of them. Stand-alone novel from AMSmith. ( )

This was a bit of a disappointment. Very little in the way of character development, huge gaps in the storyline, and what you would think were major plot developments glossed over in seconds. ( )

“Very few people imagine their own future accurately. And then they're often pleasantly surprised.” — Alexander McCall Smith, “The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse”

A good novel, like a good life, is one that offers pleasant surprises, and Alexander McCall Smith's 2017 stand-alone novel “The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse” certainly does this. His first surprise is that Peter Woodhouse turns out to be neither a pilot nor even a man but a dog.

The story covers nearly 40 years and several countries, beginning in England during World War II. Val Eliot joins the Women's Land Army, meaning that she takes work on a farm while most of the young men are fighting the war. She proves a good worker for Archie, an elderly farmer. She soon falls in love with Mike, an American pilot stationed nearby.

As for Peter Woodhouse, he belongs to a nearby farmer who mistreats his animals. Val's simple-minded cousin Willy works for this farmer and steals the dog after a beating, taking him to Archie's farm. So the other farmer won't find him, Peter Woodhouse is passed on to Mike at the base. Mike begins taking the dog on his reconnaissance flights over Germany, the reason for "the Good Pilot" part of the title. When Mike is shot down over the Netherlands, Peter Woodhouse goes down too.

By then the war is nearly over, and Ubi, a German soldier who never liked fighting anyway, finds the pilot and the dog but protects them both, leading to a postwar friendship.

The plot moves quickly, with numerous sudden turns along the way, not all pleasant ones. Yet with the possible exception of surviving the plane crash without benefit of parachutes, they seem realistic ones. And as with Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, readers never know what they are going to get. It proves a pleasure finding out. ( )

It is the time of WWII. Val Eliot is helping the war effort in England by working on a local farm. The men have been called off to war and the women fill in for them. She lives with her Aunt who runs the post office, and Willy, a boarder who works at another farm.

Mike Rogers is an American pilot who is stationed in Val's area. They meet when she delivers eggs to the base. The attraction between the two is immediate.

The owner of the farm Willy works at is a mean and cruel man. After Willy witnesses the man beating one of the dogs, Willy steals the dog and brings it to Val to rescue. Val convinces the farmer she works for to keep the dog in hopes the other farmer won't find him. The dog is given the name Peter Woodhouse and things seem to be going fine, until the mean farmer gets wind of the dog being hidden. Val convinces Mike to take the dog to the base so he will be safe and out of the mean farmer's reach.

Peter Woodhouse becomes the base mascot and a regular member of the team, to the extent they take him with them when they go on their missions.

This is not a simple book, but one with a number of story lines that intermingle. It is a story of love, humour, friendship and loss. A book to take your time reading and enjoying. ( )