In eight out of the 16 books there are people sitting under trees for various reasons, and it actually also helps act as a sort of break in the narrative. Like many things Mma Ramotswe might say, they may sound right, but when you look at them closely they can be a bit ambiguous. That's right, it's a very puzzling quote. It suits Mma Ramotswe's character because she's of the sunny disposition and she takes a very positive view of life, so I would've thought that if anybody's going to walk in the sunshine it's Mma Precious Ramotswe.Īt one point in the book Mma Ramotswe says it's not important which tree you sit under, as long as you sit under the right tree. Then eventually we decided that 'in the sunshine', or 'in sunshine' was the best thing for that. I think I started off this title thinking of saying 'the woman who walked somewhere' and I didn't have a particular destination for her. Sheryl MacKay: Why is this book called The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine?Īlexander McCall Smith:Titles often have a rather interesting past in that they go through various forms and they can change quite dramatically. and Canada to promote his latest book in the series. 7, in between McCall Smith's tour of the U.S. He sat down with North by Northwest host Sheryl MacKay and some listeners at Barbaro-Jo's Books to Cooks in Vancouver on Nov. McCall Smith himself grew up in southern Africa - he was born in what was then the British Colony of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and later moved to Scotland to study law. He is arguably best known for his best-selling series The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, which follows the adventures of Mma Precious Ramotswe, who has founded an agency in Gabarone, the capital of Botswana. The Scottish author and retired professor of medical law has written everything from academic texts and children's books to short stories composed entirely on Twitter. Maybe those of you who are familiar with Alexander McCall Smith’s work can tell me if it’s necessary to read this series in order or if you can just dip in and out.Alexander McCall Smith is a very prolific writer. I haven’t been left wanting to rush out and buy all the other books in the series, but I would be happy to try another one at some point. And yet, somehow, it does work! I really enjoyed getting to know Mma Ramotswe and picking up a little bit of knowledge of a country I previously knew nothing about. The novel is disjointed and messy and, apart from one slightly more involved case to which we return several times throughout the book, there is no overarching plot. Sometimes she makes mistakes, but more often than not she is successful and proves that those who tell her women can’t be detectives are most definitely wrong!Īs well as the mysteries, there are also chapters relating earlier episodes in Mma Ramotswe’s life, descriptions of Botswana – its scenery, its wildlife and its people – and some insights into African culture. Mma Ramotswe takes a practical approach to her detective work, based around common sense and logic, and following the guidance of The Principles of Private Detection by Clovis Andersen. They are not particularly complex – I often managed to solve them myself, which is unusual for me – and deal mainly with cheating husbands, rebellious teenagers and cases of insurance fraud, for example, rather than more serious crimes. This is not a straightforward detective novel with one central mystery to be solved instead, there are lots of separate little mysteries, with only a few pages devoted to some of them, although a few are longer. They do come, eventually, and Mma Ramotswe finds herself with an intriguing selection of cases to investigate. She hangs a sign above the door, employs a secretary, then sits back and waits for clients. When her father dies, leaving his herd of cattle to Precious, she sells them and uses the money to buy herself a house and an office which becomes the headquarters of her very own detective agency. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is set in Botswana and features thirty-four-year-old Mma Precious Ramotswe. It didn’t help that whenever I noticed some on the library shelf, they tended to be the later books in the series and my personal preference is always to start at the beginning if possible…so when I had the chance, earlier this year, to read the first book in the series via NetGalley, I thought it would be a good opportunity to finally see what it was like. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books seem to have been around forever, but I have never really felt tempted to try one.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |