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From the beloved and best-selling author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series and La's Orchestra Saves the World, a heartwarming tale of hope and friendship set during World War II, in which a British farm girl, an American pilot, and a German soldier are brought together by an unlikely hero: a (very cute) border collie.
Val Eliot, a land girl working on an English farm during the war, finds herself in charge of protecting a rescued border collie named Peter Woodhouse from the owner who mistreated him. When Val meets Mike, an American air force pilot stationed nearby, she realizes that the safest place for the little dog is alongside Mike at the base. With the love and attention of the pilots, Peter Woodhouse becomes Dog First Class, the mascot of the U.S. Air Force, boldly accompanying the officers on their missions—until a disaster jeopardizes the future of them all. It is then that Peter Woodhouse brings Ubi, a German corporal, into their orbit, sparking a friendship that comes at great risk, but carries the richest of rewards.
| ISBN-13: | 9781524747534 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 04/10/2018 |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d) |
ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH is the author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels and of a number of other series and stand-alone books. His works have been translated into more than forty languages and have been best sellers throughout the world. He lives in Scotland.
Hometown:
Edinburgh, ScotlandDate of Birth:
August 24, 1948Place of Birth:
Zimbabwe
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(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Alexander McCall Smith.
Excerpted by permission of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
This guide is designed to enhance your reading group’s focus on some of the main concepts in this book and to enable readers to explore and share different perspectives. Feel free to wander in your discussions, and use this as a guideline only!
1. When it comes to the dogs on the farm, Annie says Willy has “a strong sense of right and wrong” (p. 27). But Willy first hits Ted Butters and then steals Peter Woodhouse. Do you think this defensible given that Butters was beating the dogs?
2. Archie plays several roles in Val’s life. Boss, willing accomplice, teacher, father figure. Which roles are most important for Val? What other roles does he play?
3. “People clutched at everything—any scrap of comfort they encountered” (p. 32). Val was considering people’s desperation for the war to end. Have you ever been in a situation where you seized on every bit of hope?
4. When Val meets Mike for the first time, they send three dozen eggs smashing into the ground but have an instant attraction for one another. Do you believe in true love? Or that some people are destined to be together?
5. “She thought that was why they used the expression falling in love, because it was sudden, and unexpected, as a fall is, and it was very much the same feeling, of sudden powerlessness as gravity took hold of you, as love does; love and gravity were very similar: equally strong, equally irresistible” (p. 33). How does this thought apply to the rest of the story?
6. All of the time Mike and Val have together has to be snatched away from work and duty. Do you think that it because it is wartime? Would normal couples have to work so hard to spend time together? Does this strengthen their relationship? If not for the war, do you think Mike and Val would have the same emotions?
7. Mike and his navigator crash in a field in Holland with Peter Woodhouse. While they are all unhurt, they are in enemy-held territory. Why do you think Mike has so much certainty that all will be ok?
8. Ubi takes a great risk by allowing Mike and the navigator to stay in the attic. Why do you think he does so?
9. Mike’s MIA status is devastating to Val. Sergeant Lisowski tells her: “I’d say you could have a tiny bit of hope. A glimmer. But not much more than that” (p. 84). What would cause him to allow her to hope when he knows there may be none?
10. When Val tells Willy she’s pregnant he offers to marry her. “There would have been raised eyebrows, as many people would think that a woman should not take up with a man who was not quite all there” (p. 121). Do you think Val is being fair to Willy? What changes her opinion of this situation during the telling of the story?
11. “When I’m up there, sir, up above the clouds, I just feel . . . well, I feel that I’m in the right place—for me, that is. That’s where I have to be” (p.125). Mike is describing why he wants to keep flying. How do you think Val would feel if she heard him say so?
12. Ubi thinks about the situation he is in as a prisoner of war. While the Russians are viewed as angry and full of retribution (including stories of cannibalism), the Western Allies forces (Canadian and American), are viewed as more kind, or at least disinterested. Why is there such a discrepancy between the ways different countries treated the POWs?
13. When Ubi is about to be transferred, the Canadians burned his clothing. “It was his past that was in flames, he thought, and he was grateful. He was cleansed” (p. 139). Is surviving a war so easy to get over? What should Ubi feel guilty about, if anything?
14. Of all of the German men returning home, why does Ilse pick Ubi to offer a job? How does that save both of them?
15. Ubi goes to Berlin to find his nephew but ends up being caught behind the blockade. He is forced to stay, away from Ilse, for a few years. Mike ends up staying in the air force, in Germany, much of the time away from Val. In what other ways do the lives of these men and women parallel?
16. An article is published about Peter Woodhouse after he retires from the air force. What are the consequences of this human interest story?
17. Mike and Ubi meet again in Templehof. Why does Mike agree to help Ubi and Klaus?
18. Ubi writes to Val on hearing of Mike’s death, but it is Ilse who ends up being Val’s pen friend. What do the two woman share?
19. Mike’s, Ubi’s, and even Peter Woodhouse’s deaths are not represented in the book, simply mentioned in the course of the story. Why does the author choose this method of telling the reader?
20. Why does Val marry Willy after Mike’s death?
21. “Love grows stronger. Love lasts a lifetime, and beyond” (p. 247). Do you agree with this sentiment?
Greetings, gumshoes! March may have gone out like a lamb, but April’s new crop of mysteries is roaring in. From a gritty retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth by the peerless Jo Nesbø, to the story of a long-lost daughter whose sudden reappearance brings nothing but trouble, this month’s crop of whodunits is ready to surprise you […]
