The Joy and Light Bus Company

LoveReading Says

Mma. Ramotswe may have a tiny white van that is kept on the road by her devoted husband, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, and not a tank, but when she parks it on your lawn, you know you’re in trouble.

Not that this is a key part of this particular story, but it is a rare act of challenge to an unfortunate character that comes to Mma. Ramotswe’s attention as she ponders on the happiness of men, the lateness of her much loved father and J.L.B Matekoni’s troubling new foray into business development, with a company that echoes his initials.

For No 1 fans, everything we love and adore about these stories is included, the value of quiet wisdom in a world of crass celebrity, the importance of good traditional cattle and of course plenty of tea and cake, as befits the reflectively minded and traditionally built.

This pearl of story has some grit to it too, touching on issues of slavery, child labour and violent abuse, and is a superb new addition to the series, a beautifully crafted and elegantly told story of much loved characters doing what they have always done; their best in the circumstances and doing it with dignity, tolerance and understanding. Unless we’re talking about Violet Sephotho, of course, the shameless hussy of the tales, who here gets into a spot of bother with chocolate biscuits.

McCall Smith is one of our most gifted and indeed prolific writers, as we know, but he is also that rarest of folk, a true storyteller of the first order who can transport us in fiction, time after time, to a land few of us will be fortunate enough to travel to in reality, a place of big skies, warm welcomes, and respect for your fellow humans.

Reviewed by Paul Blezard
Multi award winning broadcaster, poet, author and literary commentator, Paul Blezard has for over twenty years spoken to, written about and worked with many of the world’s finest…
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About The Joy and Light Bus Company

Catch up on the latest from Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi and other favourites in this new instalment of Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series."Mma Ramotswe is a glorious creation" Mail on Sunday Mma Ramotswe knows she is very lucky indeed. She has a loving family, good friends and a thriving business doing what she enjoys most: helping people. But the latest mystery she is called upon to solve is distinctly trickier than it initially appears, and, of course, there's plenty to handle in her personal life between Charlie and his new bride and Mma Makutsi and her talking shoes. In the end, Mma Ramotswe's patience and common-sense will win out, and, without a doubt, all will be the better for it."Full of delight" Sunday Herald"Hugely enjoyable" Sunday Times

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