"A beautifully written and moving take on humanity, warts and all. . . . An excellent entry point for any McCall Smith newcomer." — Library Journal , starred review From the beloved author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series comes a dazzling and uplifting novel of new beginnings and endless possibilities, in which a slew of personal and professional disasters cause a young researcher to upend his seemingly stable life in Edinburgh and move to a remote island off the Scottish coast. Dr. Neil Anderson has just started a new position at the University of Edinburgh when he meets Chrissie, an intelligent and ambitious colleague at the institute. Before long, the two move into a gorgeous flat on the south side of the city. Things seem to be going well for Neil, until an accusation of insensitive comments lands him in hot water with the university and he discovers a troubling secret about his relationship. Suddenly feeling as though his life is unraveling, he leaves everything behind for the remote and secluded beauty of the Isle of Mull off the west coast of Scotland. Not long after his arrival, a ship comes in to the harbor whose cargo—two wolf cubs—will drastically change the course of his life yet again. These cubs spark controversy on the island, leading Neil to Katie, the island’s resident veterinarian, and bring with them the possibility of new beginnings and a budding romance. "A beautifully written and moving take on humanity, warts and all. The idyllic setting on a Scottish island and the romantic elements are reminiscent of Jenny Colgan's cozy novels. . . . An excellent entry point for any McCall Smith newcomer." — Library Journal , starred review "The prodigiously prolific and popular Alexander McCall Smith gives readers a quirky, thought-provoking, thoroughly entertaining stand-alone novel. . . . Readers will be enchanted . . . and galvanized by his through-theme of the roles chance and choice play in our lives." — Booklist , starred review "An entertaining tale about the vagaries of relationships. . . . Smith's character work is top-notch. . . . Fans will love this." — Publishers Weekly 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. One Almost everything starts in a small way. There is no shortage of examples—and attendant metaphors: rivers begin with a trickle of water in a remote upland; oaks emerge from nothing bigger than an acorn; a cloud the size of a hand becomes a full-blown storm. Often it is an apparently insignificant event that ends up dictating the whole shape of our lives: a random, even whimsical, decision; an unanticipated remark; a chance encounter—any of these may have consequences far beyond the immediate. For Neil, just such a moment occurred when he walked into a Turkish barbershop in Glasgow. He had made an appointment, but he was early, and he had to wait. Had he been on time, his life would probably have been quite different. As it was, he sat down on one of the cracked-leather-covered seats and picked up a copy of New Scientist left by a previous customer among the usual detritus of the barbershop: the men’s grooming monthlies, the well-thumbed copies of car magazines, the out-of-date newspapers. New Scientist was a cut above all that; it reported on scientific advances: new non-stick saucepans, gene editing, insights into the earth’s crust. It also carried advertisements for scientific jobs, and it was one of these that caught his eye. An Edinburgh research institute had a vacancy for a medically qualified researcher. That was what Neil was, and he was coming to the end of his public-health contract in Glasgow. He was thirty-five, and ready for a change. The timing could not have been better, and Neil was appointed after an interview that proved surprisingly cursory. He was, in fact, the only candidate, although they kept that from him, out of consideration for his feelings. Although independent of the major local university, and not part of any other Scottish university, the institute ran courses for undergraduate students, participated in doctoral programmes, and undertook research for government bodies. Its staff were experts in both animal and human health; they tracked the progress of diseases at home and abroad, recording their waxing and waning with the seasons and the movement of animals and of people. They responded to the occasional scare, as swine or avian flu wove their way in and out of the newspaper headlines. They watched, at a distance, outbreaks of cholera in distant shanty towns. They waited for what many of them thought to be inevitable: Ebola and Marburg fever were waiting in the wings. It was potentially apocalyptic work. “Will microbes get us eventually?” a friend asked him. “That’s what you do, isn’t it? Tha