The Quiet Side of Passion

By: Alexander McCall Smith

Narrated by: Davina Porter

Isabel Dalhousie grapples with complex matters of the heart as she tries to juggle her responsibilities to friends, family, and the philosophical community. With two small boys to raise, a mountain or articles to edit for the Review of Applied Ethics, and the ever-increasing demands of her niece, Cat, who always seems to need a helping hand at the deli, Isabel barely has any time for herself.

Her husband, Jamie, suggests acquiring extra help, and she reluctantly agrees. In no time at all, Isabel and Jamie have a new au pair, and Isabel hires an intelligent assistant editor to share her workload.

©2018 Alexander McCall Smith (P)2018 Recorded Books

Lovely listen

The combination of Mr. McCall Smith’s storytelling and Davina Porter’s narration is wonderful. It is always a treat to listen to these stories.

Wonderful

Alexander McCall Smith never disappoints. This was beautiful. Thank you. God bless you, Mr. Smith. You are a treasure.

Wish publishers would publish more intellectual women’s mysteries

For the most part, I have looked forward to Alexander McCall Smith’s Isabel Dalhousie installments, though I know there will be maddening segments in which she rants and pronounces self-righteous judgments like an aging Anglo-Saxon Protestant man raised in an African colony. Still, I like Edinburgh and can’t afford to travel there, and as a literature professor and editor who has to publish analyses that include philosophy, this character gives me familiarity with a pleasant level of escapism. Unfortunately, there are times when the author’s masculinity of perspective not only shines through but grates on the story, such as when Isabel used to whine on and on about how lucky she was to be providing an upper class lifestyle for the impoverished musician, Jamie, who is now the henpecked father of her two sons. Some experiences and perspectives simply don’t translate across gender and ethnicity divides in a culture as hierarchical as the British and Anglo-American. This problem arises again in The Quiet Side of Passion. Three young women come precipitately into Isabel’s life and home, where she keeps her lovable little sons and supposedly delectable husband, and all three are sexually incontinent and emotionally dishonest. Yet, the gender indistinct Isabel not only is slow to suspect or condemn the obvious foul plays all three of these women are perpetrating, involving and exposing her innocent sons, but she goes to two men for sympathetic advice or support. Seriously? Does an editor read these Dalhousie mysteries before they are published? Can we strive for just a little verisimilitude ? At some point, even the most determined fan has to speak up for characterization . I am wildly grateful that a mystery series is published with an intelligent female protagonist in a beautiful city following human interest stories with minimal or no blood and guts for readers to slog through. I wish my support of Dalhousie had inspired publishers to publish more series like this, perhaps even written by women (imagine that!), so the characterizations might be refreshing instead of incredibly annoying or even tension-inducing. I will continue to support the concept of Dalhousie because her city is charming, her philosophical musings are engaging even when Eurocentric, and she too is a highly educated woman in a badly misogynistic environment. But how I wish competing publishers would seek to capitalize on Dalhousie’s legacy!

Lovely book, well narrated

A M Smith did it again. A very well written book, that was a pleasure to listen to.

The Narration Was Inconsistent

I have enjoyed this series for several years and the narrator, Davina Porter, has always been a joy to listen to. However, I noticed that something had changed in Ms Porter's narration around Chapter 17 of this book. It sounds as if she had had a stroke or had been drinking. Since the latter doesn't make any sense, I can only guess that Ms Porter had a stroke or other malady before she had finished narrating this book and came back to finish the reading once she received a doctor's OK. However, it is very evident something had drastically changed. Her narration became very slow and she was slightly slurring some words. It actually became a bit disconcerting and I'm having trouble listening to the rest of the book as a result. Whatever happened to her, I pray it was of short duration and that she has been restored to more of her normal self. She was/is a very good narrator usually.