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    Trains and Lovers: A Novel
    Trains and Lovers: A Novel
    Trains and Lovers: A Novel
    Audiobook5 hours

    Trains and Lovers: A Novel

    Written by Alexander McCall Smith

    Narrated by Robert Ian Mackenzie

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    As they journey by rail from Edinburgh to London, four strangers pass the time by sharing tales of trains that have changed their lives. A keen-eyed Scotsman recounts how he turned a friendship with a coworker into a romance by spotting an anachronistic train in an eighteenth-century painting. An Australian woman shares how her parents fell in love and spent their life together running a railroad siding in the remote Outback. A middle-aged American patron of the arts sees two young men saying goodbye in a train station and recalls his own youthful crush on another man. And a young Englishman describes how exiting his train at the wrong station allowed him to meet an intriguing woman whom he impulsively invited to dinner-and into his life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJun 11, 2013
    ISBN9781470366186
    Trains and Lovers: A Novel
    Author

    Alexander McCall Smith

    Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the award-winning series The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and he now devotes his time to the writing of fiction, including the 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie series. He is the author of over eighty books on a wide array of subjects, and his work has been translated into forty-six languages. Before becoming a full-time writer he was for many years Professor of Medical Law at Edinburgh.

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    Reviews for Trains and Lovers

    3.5/5

    149 ratings15 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Recently I checked Alexander McCall Smith's latest "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" novel out of the library, and the person at the circulation desk asked me if I liked the series. I said that I did, and she said she couldn't really get into it, but that she really liked McCall Smith's "Scotland Street" series, set in Edinburgh. I'd read the first of those years ago but didn't like it well enough to continue.So, I checked out _Trains and Lovers_ with the hope that it might be a good way back into McCall Smith's other work. I think, though, that what I learned in the process is that you're either a Precious Ramotswe fan, or you're a Bertie fan, and I'm sticking with Precious.This was a light, enjoyable read, but ultimately a little flat. The premise--that four strangers meet on a train from Edinburgh to London and share their train-related love stories en route--requires some serious suspension of disbelief. The stories are, in various moments, funny, touching, and sinister (or as sinister as AMcS gets)…but they don't do a whole lot to really show us who the narrators are. This is especially true of Kay, whose story is really about her parents' romance and not her own, and of David, whose story about "the love that dare not speak its name" never, in fact, gets spoken.I may try the Scotland Street series again, but I think I've discovered now that none of AMcS' other work will ever feel quite as magical to me as the Ladies' Detective Agency series.
    • 3/5
      Audio book read by Robert Ian MacKenzie I love Alexander McCall Smith. I love the way he puts together an ensemble of characters and slowly reveals their everyday lives and the little (and big) dramas hidden in plain sight. In this novel – not part of any series – four strangers meet on a train bound for London from Edinburgh. As they get acquainted their stories come out. David, a middle-aged American businessman, sees two men saying good-bye at the station, and is reminded of the young man he met in his own youth. A young Scot, Andrew, reveals how he captured the attention of a co-worker when he noticed a problem with a painting that’s been credited to an early-seventeenth century artist. Kay relates how her parents met, married and ran a train station in the Australian Outback. Hugh missed his stop one day on the train, and met a woman he let into his life.Each story offers some insight into the many ways that love finds us, enriches us, or disappoints us. For some of these characters the love is in the past, for others it shows promise of continuing into the future. The audio book is masterfully performed by Robert Ian MacKenzie. He has clear diction, a good pace and is a skilled voice artist, able to differentiate the many characters.
    • 3/5
      There are a few elements of the sensory beauty and emotion that grace Alexander McCall Smith's other books I have read (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series), but it is slow and a bit confusing as 4 passengers relate their personal stories of love during a train trip in England. The stories intermingle and one has to be careful to recall the details as the story is again continued after a hiatus of a few chapters. Almost seems as though it is written by a different author.
    • 4/5
      Trains and Lovers by Alexander SmithVarious stories from people who share the train and their life experiences. Loved the travel each had described and loved the jobs of a few of them: fisherman who lost his oar and the one who had picked up the steam train in a art setting where trains had not even been invented when the painting had been finished.I have done both things and felt a bond. Didn't care much for the travel to and in Australia, just no bond for me there, seems like such a foreign country with the culture.I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
    • 2/5
      Compartment mates on a train tell their stories. I don't like Smith's writing. It doesn't engage me like some other authors do. A matter of personal preference.
    • 3/5
      Four characters are seated together on a train from Edinburgh to London and pass the time by sharing stories about love all of which share an element of train travel in them. Kay, a woman in her 50's is from Australia and shares a story about her parents love as they lived at a train siding in the Australian outback. Andrew, a Scotsman in his 20's shares a story about love the bloomed with a co-worker when he spots a train that does not belong in the era of a painting. David, a middle aged man from the U.S. remembers (but does not share) a story of unrequited love that is sparked by viewing a parting on the railway platform. And Hugh, and Englishman in his 20's, share story of meeting a young woman when he gets off at the wrong station and the ensuing relationship.It's a short, enjoyable read without a lot of depth beyond the exploration of facets of love ignited by trains.
    • 4/5
      If you have ever taken the train on a long trip than you will know how easy it is to find yourself sitting next to another person and across from two others like David, Kay, Andrew, and Hugh find themselves doing when Trains and Lovers open up in the first chapter. I have rode Am Track many times, but the longest route I took was from Ohio to Los Angeles to Seattle. This is why Alexander McCall-Smith's new release attracted my attention and why I found the stories riveting. Better to listen to another traveler's life than sit alone with nothing but scenery you can't interact with speeding by you. Andrew is the first to tell his story. A twenty-something with odd eyes,shares about his infatuation with a student intern he meets while interning with the same art dealer. Her name is Hermione and Andrew falls for her at first sight and believes in love at first sight even though he is a bit frustrated knowing that it is not sensible for him to fall for a girl so quickly. He talks quite abit about it. I could relate to Andrew because I fell head over heels in love with a boy when I was 15 years old. Nothing ever happened, but I can testify that I never quite forgot him nor will I ever. Well, this is where you get off. It's your exit to pick up TRAINS & LOVERS and finish the journey. Hope this help whet your whistle! Toot ...Toot. Then David wants to tell his story, but can't. "Oh boy, here we go!" I thought. We all "know" that David can't come "out of the closet" even riding a train in the 21st Century. David relives his attraction to a young boy named Bruce who happened to rescue him when he was in his row boat and lost an oar and was floating out to sea. Now, here is where I the reader get ugly and a bit perturbed because I am old fashioned and hate when men or women "fall in love with their own sex the way a man and woman fall in love." It is not natural and somehow the universe itself taps them on the shoulder and urges them to get their inner core aligned right -- if not they will suffer their whole lives and won't ever be able to feel quite as normal as they would like while living on this planet in human civilization. So far, I related more to Kay, a 50 something year old woman when she begins to talk about her father's immigration to Australia after World War II. Having always been fascinated by the Outback and their lifestyle, I could not help but want to jump onto the boat with her father and travel there myself. Maybe this 19-year-old Scotsman drew me in because my own grandfather hopped on a ship in Yugoslavia to go to the USA when he was 16-years-old to start a new life and never to see his family again. I had to think that my own grandpa would have had to say goodbye to his little brothers much like Kay's dad said good by to his two brothers and parents. What was it like for my grandpa coming to the US? Who helped him find work and get along when he could not understand English? At least Kay's father understood English and was able to land a job and work his way into a career that he could support himself and a family on. Kay's father does get lonely living in the Outback and finds a young woman his age to correspond with, eventually meet and marry. What an angel of light Allison Morsby, Kay's mother is in the Outback. When you compare her to women today, she is not of this earth: settling in to a new town uncomplainingly, serving her husband with the skills of a seasoned homemaker, Allison causes the desert to bloom not only for her husband but for all who travel through their dusty, wind-blown town on the train. Then, like all good 20 something's, Hugh, one of Kay's travelling companions speaks up. It is now his turn to say something. I can't hardly wait because traveling across country is going so much faster listening to stories than watching the second had travel slowly around the face of my wristwatch. I have to interject here that 20-year-olds have a special way of making those of us who lived life a little bit longer feel as though we were never young at all.
    • 4/5
      Beautiful read, unusual "one off" from AMcS. Great descriptions of hard life in the Australian Outbank in the 40's and of tranquil summer holidays in Maine in the 70's.
    • 4/5
      Alexander McCall Smith focuses Trains and Lovers on four people journeying from Edinburgh to London. "This is the story of four people, all strangers to one another, who met on that train, and of how love touched their lives, in very different ways." The trip itself changes from ordinary to memorable when the passengers find themselves opening up to each other.McCall Smith recounts the individual stories through dialogue, through narration and through interior thoughts. The stories themselves draw you in. Not all the love stories are happy, some are marked by regret and longing. I don't want to spoil anything and the bare details of the love stories don't do them justice. McCall Smith writes so beautifully here and though the book is short, I found myself slowing down to savor his writing. Some stories are incredibly sad, but all of the stories stay with you long after you've finished the book. ISBN-10: 034580581X - Paperback $10.09Publisher: Anchor (December 31, 2013), 256 pages. Review copy courtesy of the publisher and the Amazon Vine Reviewers Program.
    • 3/5
      Four strangers meet on a train and share stories of themselves. I was disappointed with this book. Usually, I love Smith's microscopic focus on humanity, but the narrative structure made the characters hard to follow and even by the end I just didn't feel a real connection to any of them.
    • 3/5
      Four strangers on the train, four contemplative vignettes. A different McCall Smith: I almost didn't recognize his style. Instead of the usual humorous and uplifting story telling, I detected a slightly somber and somewhat bitter tone here. And another thing: not that the revelations themselves were not believable, it's just that I found it hard to believe that the strangers on the train would open up to that extent to one another, would share such intimate things from their lives (true, some of it was in the form of one's thoughts, one of them couldn't share openly). But as usual with McCall Smith's books, the insights into human nature were there. It's just that this time, some of them sounded a little simplistic. I think it would have worked better as 4 separate short stories.
    • 5/5
      “Trains and Lovers” confirms for me again what a versatile and wonderful writer Alexander McCall Smith is. Four strangers, three men and one woman, meet in the anonymity of a train compartment. This protection of privacy enables them to speak, personally, on the topic of love and lovers without being judged by the others.It is printed in a small book format 5” W. (13 cm) by 7 1/4” H (18 cm) which I found so fitting for the book and its subject matter. It feels so good in my hands and would be so convenient for a train trip.July 18, 2013
    • 4/5
      Four people meet on a train going from Edinburgh to London. They each tell a story about love that either involves them or members of their families. It makes for a lot of characters to follow, but it's a short book so it is doable. As usual, McCall Smith offers insights into this thing called love. One story takes place in the Outback of Australia so the settings do vary. This would be a nice little book to pick up while taking a journey of ones own. Recommended.
    • 3/5
      Four strangers- three men, one woman- meet on a train traveling from Edinburgh, Scotland to London. Each tells a story from their past that has a connection to trains and love. The stories in most cases are interesting but i found contained details I would not think people would reveal to complete strangers. The woman from Australia's story of how her parents met was probably the most realistic.I have read one of Smith's 44 Scotland series and two of his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books. This is a much lighter read then those and concentrates on romance and is the quick escapist mode of literature.
    • 5/5
      As with other McCall Smith books, not quite as I expected. With his work, that's a very good thing. This was engaging and had interesting insights. The characters were likable without being cloying or perfect. Each one's story left me wanting to know more about them as characters. It's a quick read, without feeling like it's rushing. I greatly enjoyed it and found it perfect for a day off from work. I think the references and uses of trains are subtle. I feel confident that this book will reward rereading.