The Lost Art of Gratitude

Praise for the Isabel Dalhousie Series “Charmingly told.… Its graceful prose shines, and Isabel’s interior monologues—meditations on a variety of moral questions—are bemused, intelligent and entertaining.” — The Seattle Times “Genial.… Wise.… Glows like a rare jewel.” — Entertainment Weekly “Full of his insightful but gentle examinations of human nature.… Paints [a] rich portrait of Edinburgh.” — Rocky Mountain News “Endearing.… Offers tantalizing glimpses of Edinburgh’s complex character and a nice, long look into the beautiful mind of a thinking woman.” — The New York Times Book Review “Habit-forming.… Leaves plenty of time for pondering moral conundrums, the drinking of steaming cups of hot brew (coffee, in this case) and … gentle probing into the human condition.” — The Oregonian “Whimsical.… [A] memorable cast of characters.… McCall Smith’s assessments of fellow humans are piercing and profound.… [His] depictions of Edinburgh are vivid and seamless.… His fans … are sure to embrace these moral peregrinations among the plaid.” — San Francisco Chronicle “A witty, ruminative and wise examination of the things that comfort and sustain us.” — The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) “Skillfully written.… Smith’s Scotland … is a place where a profound, humane intelligence is at work.” — New York Daily News “Utterly charming.… Alexander McCall Smith often celebrates the best of humanity—its compassion, its intuition, its empathy.” — The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)

Alexander McCall Smith

THE LOST ART OF GRATITUDE

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics.

www.alexandermccallsmith.com

BOOKS BY ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH

IN THE ISABEL DALHOUSIE SERIES

The Sunday Philosophy Club

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate

The Right Attitude to Rain

The Careful Use of Compliments

The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday

The Lost Art of Gratitude

The Charming Quirks of Others

IN THE NO. 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY SERIES

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

Tears of the Giraffe

Morality for Beautiful Girls

The Kalahari Typing School for Men

The Full Cupboard of Life

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies

Blue Shoes and Happiness

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive

The Miracle at Speedy Motors

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built

The Double Comfort Safari Club

IN THE PORTUGUESE IRREGULAR VERBS SERIES

Portuguese Irregular Verbs

The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs

At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances

IN THE 44 SCOTLAND STREET SERIES

44 Scotland Street

Espresso Tales

Love Over Scotland

The World According to Bertie

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones

Corduroy Mansions

La’s Orchestra Saves the World

The Girl Who Married a Lion and Other Tales from Africa

FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, SEPTEMBER 2010

Copyright © 2009 by Alexander McCall Smith

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Published in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in Great Britain by Little, Brown, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, London, and subsequently published in hardcover in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 2009.

Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Excerpts from poems by W. H. Auden appear courtesy of Edward Mendelson, Executor of the Estate of W. H. Auden, and Random House, Inc.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the Pantheon edition as follows:

McCall Smith, Alexander.

The lost art of gratitude / Alexander McCall Smith.

p. cm.

1. Dalhousie, Isabel (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Women editors—Fiction. 3. Women philosophers—Fiction. 4. Investment bankers—Fiction. 5. Edinburgh (Scotland)—Fiction. I. Title.

PR6063.C326L67 2009

823′.914—dc22

2009022618

eISBN: 978-0-307-37857-6

www.anchorbooks.com

v3.1

This book is for Roger Cazalet—with gratitude