Author(s): Alexander McCall Smith

Fiction

From the bestselling author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series comes this meditative tale of hope and friendship during World War II, in which a young English woman, an American pilot, and a German soldier are brought together by an unlikely hero: a very sympathetic Border Collie.

Val Eliot, an English girl working on a farm as part of the war effort in the Women's Land Army, finds herself protecting a sheepdog named Peter Woodhouse rescued from the owner who mistreated him. When Val meets Mike, a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance pilot stationed nearby, she realizes that the safest place for the little dog is alongside Mike at the base. Out of this kindness develops a love between Val and Mike that unfolds against the wartime obstacles of life-risking duty and distance. With the care and attention of the pilots, Peter Woodhouse becomes Dog First Class, the mascot of the US Air Force, boldly accompanying the officers in a Mosquito plane--until a disaster jeopardizes the future of them all. It is then that Peter Woodhouse draws Ubi, a German corporal, into their orbit, sparking a friendship that comes at great risk, but will pay the richest of rewards through the transition from war to peace time, and over the rest of their lives.