Author Talk: Alexander McCall Smith
Lindum Books Presents: Alexander McCall Smith. The author of much-loved No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series will be joining us in conversation with Tim Rideout about his three new titles: A Song of Comfortable Chairs (No.1 Ladies' series), Sweet Remnants of Summer (Isabel Dalhousie series) and The Exquisite Art of Getting Even (his new short story collection).
Alexander McCall Smith
7.00pm Thursday 13th October 2022
The Collection, Auditorium
Tickets: £7
Pre-drinks available in the Muse Coffee Bar from 6.30pm.
In the twenty-third book in the perennially adored The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Description Grace Makutsi's husband, Phuti, is in a bind. An international firm is attempting to undercut his prices in the office furniture market. Phuti has always been concerned with quality and comfort, but this new firm seems interested only in profits. To make matters worse, they have a slick new advertising campaign that seems hard to beat. Nonetheless with Mma Ramotswe's help, Phuti comes up with a campaign that may just do the trick. Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi is approached by an old friend who has a troubled son. Grace and Phuti agree to lend a hand, but the boy proves difficult to reach, and the situation is more than they can handle on their own. It will require not only all of their patience and dedication, but also the help of Mma Ramotswe and the formidable Mma Potokwani in order to help the child. Faced with more than her fair share of domestic problems, Mma Makutsi deals with it all with her usual grace. That, along with the kindness, generosity, and good sense that the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is known for, assure us that in the end, all these matters will be set right.
The latest installation in the beloved Isabel Dalhousie series confronts an issue that is affecting many societies today: differences of opinion, political and otherwise, that are dividing families and friends. Comity, which allows for disagreements to exist without fracturing relationships, has been replaced by hostility and rupture. Fewer people, it seems, are prepared to agree to differ. Isabel, of course, believes in courteous and tolerant discourse. She understands that reasonable people may have different conceptions of the good; she does not believe that those who happen to disagree with her are to be castigated and cold-shouldered. She believes that friendship and good relations can exist even if people support different political parties or have different understandings of the world. She believes in religious tolerance. And yet she now finds Scotland fairly seriously divided on the crucial issue of the identity of the state. Unlike some, who take a rigid view of this matter and opt for a firm position on either side, Isabel can see the merits in both sides of the argument about Scottish nationhood.