What W. H. Auden Can Do for You

Bestselling novelist Alexander McCall Smith's charming account of how the poet W. H. Auden has helped guide his life - and how he might guide yours too

When facing a moral dilemma, Isabel Dalhousie - Edinburgh philosopher, amateur detective, and title character of a series of novels by bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith - often refers to the great twentieth-century poet W. H. Auden. This is no accident: McCall Smith has long been fascinated by Auden. Indeed, the novelist, best known for his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, calls the poet not only the greatest literary discovery of his life but also the best of guides on how to live. In What W. H. Auden Can Do for You, McCall Smith has written a charming personal account about what Auden has done for him - and what he just might do for you.

Part self-portrait, part literary appreciation, the book tells how McCall Smith first came across the poet's work in the 1970s while teaching law in Belfast, a violently divided city where Auden's September 1, 1939, a poem about the outbreak of World War II, strongly resonated. McCall Smith goes on to reveal how his life has related to and been inspired by other Auden poems ever since. For example, he describes how he has found an invaluable reflection on life's transience in As I Walked Out One Evening, while The More Loving One has provided an instructive meditation on unrequited love. McCall Smith shows how Auden can speak to us throughout life, suggesting how, despite difficulties and change, we can celebrate understanding, acceptance, and love for others.

An enchanting story about how art can help us live, this book will appeal to McCall Smith's fans and anyone curious about Auden.

'[M]aybe the name of this book is the most radical, insightful thing about it: the notion that Auden is, as McCall Smith writes, "a healer," and that this healing is collective. It's not just what Auden can do for you alone, but for all of us.' — Alex Nazaryan, Newsweek

'Poets need readers who aren't poets, and it is delightful to see an established novelist answer the call.' — Lachlan MacKinnon, Times Literary Supplement