Bestselling author’s sweet novel explores the human need for love

FICTION
The Perfect Passion Company
Alexander McCall Smith
Polygon, $39.99

Alexander McCall Smith’s latest book, a stand-alone called The Perfect Passion Company, was archetypal published successful instalments arsenic 3 abstracted stories but featured an overarching narrative, alternatively similar connective tissue, astir the adventurous middle-aged Ness, her younger relative Katie, and the too-good-to-be-true William, a handsome young Australian antheral who knits for a living.

Ness has made her mode done 3 husbands by her aboriginal 40s, having gone done 2 divorces earlier being widowed by a kilt-related parachuting accident. She runs a dating agency, or, arsenic she prefers to telephone it, an instauration bureau. But aft 10 years of this, she hands the moving of the agency, on with her Edinburgh flat, implicit to Katie and heads crossed the Atlantic for a “grown-up spread year” successful the wilds of Canada, wherever she soon finds herself fending disconnected 2 suitors of her own.

Katie finds retired the hard mode that immoderate radical look simply unmatchable, but with William’s help, she manages 3 palmy pairings, positive what looks similar an incidental fourth. But the communicative of Katie and William themselves is different budding romance, processing done their thoughtful conversations arsenic they research the personalities and desires of the bureau’s clients.

In telling these tales of palmy and unsuccessful matchmaking, McCall Smith explores the things that we privation from partners and from emotion and romance, arsenic chiseled from the things that we deliberation we want. Some of the clients person elemental requirements regarding tallness oregon age. Some privation their dinners cooked for them. Others privation idiosyncratic who tin tolerate their inclination to hyperventilate, oregon their obsession with classical cars.

McCall Smith’s lastest caller explores the things that we privation from partners and from emotion and romance.

What emerges done these stories is simply a signifier whereby palmy matches hap erstwhile radical acceptable neatly astir each other’s needs and qualities, alternatively than the accustomed shopping-list attack that reduces different quality beings to commodities and makes for truthful galore online disasters, oregon the sadly misguided condemnation that your perfect spouse would beryllium idiosyncratic conscionable similar you.

The successfully coupled-up successful these stories are those who observe the pleasures of reciprocity and the equilibrium of giving and receiving.

The champion illustration of this is the palmy lucifer of pretty, vivacious Jenny, who ne'er stops talking, with homely, gentle Peter, who has mastered the creation of discreetly adjusting the measurement connected his proceeding aids. But arsenic a wide doctrine of matchmaking, this dovetail attack is hinted astatine successful the opening pages, wherever Katie is telling a person however Ness’s narcissistic 2nd hubby ran disconnected with a photographer: “Oh well. These things happen. As agelong arsenic they recovered what they wanted. Narcissists similar photographers.” “Yes. And photographers similar narcissists. It worked for everybody, I think.”

McCall Smith’s fabrication is ever hard to classify, but his Irish adjacent Marian Keyes is simply a utile constituent of comparison. Both are enviably prolific yet cautious successful their craft; some are sharply insightful yet generous and comic and endlessly forgiving of the quality condition.

Loading

And his stories, nary substance wherever successful the satellite they whitethorn beryllium set, instrumentality spot successful a societal and motivation beingness wherever astir radical are thoughtful and decent to each other. There is usually immoderate excuse for adjacent the astir incorrigible characters, and those get their comeuppance successful ways truthful comic and gentle that 1 scarcely notices, if 1 notices astatine all, the whip-flicks administered successful passing for what often seems the author’s ain backstage amusement.

He is afloat awake to the assorted shades and intensities of quality awfulness, but his fabrication is grounded successful a satellite presumption that is optimistic and benign. Or, arsenic 1 publication blogger erstwhile said erstwhile trying to explicate his appeal: “I ever consciousness harmless erstwhile I americium speechmaking his books.”

The Booklist is simply a play newsletter for publication lovers from books exertion Jason Steger. Get it delivered each Friday.

Most Viewed successful Culture

Loading