Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith

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 $10.09

• Publisher: Anchor (December 31, 2013), 256 pages. 

Review copy courtesy of the publisher and the Amazon Vine Reviewers Program.

About the Author:
Alexander McCall Smith was born in what is now Zimbabwe and taught law at the University of Botswana. He is now Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He has written more than fifty books, including a number of specialist titles, but is best known for The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has achieved bestseller status on four continents. In 2004 he was awarded British Book Awards Author of the Year and Booksellers Association Author of the Year. He lives in Scotland, where in his spare time he is a bassoonist in the RTO (Really Terrible Orchestra).