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Blue Shoes and Happiness

by Alexander McCall Smith

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (7)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
4,039742,955 (3.89)111
There is considerable excitement at The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. A cobra has been found in Precious Ramotswe's office. Then a nurse from a local clinic reveals that faulty blood-pressure readings are being recorded. And Botswana has a new advice columnist, Aunty Emang, whose advice is rather curt for Mma Ramotswe's taste. All this means a lot of work for our heroine and her assistant, Grace Makutsi. But there's trouble brewing in Mma Makutsi's own life. When Phuti Radiphuti misses their customary dinner date, she begins to wonder if he is having second thoughts about their engagement. And while Mma Makutsi may be able to buy that fashionably narrow (and uncomfortable) pair of blue shoes, it may not buy her the happiness that Mma Ramotswe promises her she'll find in the simpler things--in contentment with the world and enough tea to smooth over the occasional bumps in the road.--From publisher description.… (more)
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» See also 111 mentions

English (71)  Finnish (1)  Danish (1)  Swedish (1)  All languages (74)
Showing 1-5 of 71 (next | show all)
(audio) witchcraft, blackmail, new chair, feminism
  bentstoker | Jan 26, 2024 |
A friend told me how much she enjoyed Lisette Lecat's reading and I wasn't disappointed. The rolling "r's" and delightful accents of the characters added another layer of enjoyment to what has become one of my favorite series of books. ( )
  rebwaring | Aug 14, 2023 |
Delightful, gentle suspense, and so very human. The little quirks that make each character so alive brings a sense that you are there visiting with them. Sometimes I wonder how a conclusion was reached, and want a little more of the process but really the simplicity is what keeps me coming back for more in this series. ( )
  Martialia | Sep 28, 2022 |
This entry in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is the perfect balance of character development and cozy mystery. I liked that the cases were more involved than in earlier books and took some real sleuthing to solve, even the new garage/agency assistant Mr. Polopetsi got to help out. ( )
  wandaly | Jun 7, 2022 |
As gentle and reassuring as I hoped. Few surprises but the characters are allowed to work out their own conclusions to events. ( )
  Je9 | Aug 10, 2021 |
Showing 1-5 of 71 (next | show all)
This will be familiar territory for fans of the series. Cases are cracked thanks to her traditional common sense and the consumption of vast quantities of tea, while the main concern of the novel is the pursuit of that most elusive state of being: happiness.
 

» Add other authors (11 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Alexander McCall Smithprimary authorall editionscalculated
Kern, ÉlisabethTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Dedication
This book is for
Bernard Ditau in Botswana
and Kenneth and Pravina King in Scotland
First words
When you are just the right age, as Mma Ramotswe was, and when you have seen a lot of life, as Mma Ramotswe certainly had, then there are some things that you just know.
Quotations
"We are all human beings," Mma Ramotswe had once observed to Mma Makutsi, "and human beings can't really help themselves. Have you noticed that, Mma? We can't really help ourselves from doing things that land us in all sorts of trouble."
One day, when he retired, they would move out to a village, perhaps to Mochudi, and find land to plough and cattle to tend. Then at last there would be time to sit outside on the stoep with Mma Ramotswe and watch the life of the village unfold before them. That would be a good way of spending such days as remained to one; in peace, happy, among the people and cattle of home. It would be good to die among one's cattle, he thought, with their sweet breath on one's face and their dark, gentle eyes watching right up to the end of one's journey, right up to the edge of the river.
And where would we be in a world without the old Botswana morality? It would not work, in Mma Ramotswe's view, because it would mean that people could do as they wished without regard for what others thought. That would be a recipe for selfishness, a recipe as clear as if it were written out in a cookery book: Take one country, with all that the country means, with its kind people, and their smiles, and their habit of helping one another; ignore all this; shake about; add modern ideas; bake until ruined.
All about them there were well-dressed crowds, people with money in their pockets, people buying for homes that were slowly beginning to reflect Botswana's prosperity. It had all been earned, every single pula of it, in a world in which it is hard enough to make something of one's country, in a world of selfish and distant people who took one's crops at rock-bottom prices and wrote the rules to suit themselves. There were plenty of fine words, of course—and lots of these came from Africa itself—but at the end of the day the poor, the people who lived in Africa, so often had nothing to show for their labours, nothing. And that was not because they did not work hard—they did, they did—but because of something that was wrong which made it so difficult to get anywhere, no matter how hard they tried.
One should not hold a grudge against another, [the old Botswana morality] said, because to harbor grudges was to disturb the social peace, the bond between people.
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Wikipedia in English (2)

There is considerable excitement at The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. A cobra has been found in Precious Ramotswe's office. Then a nurse from a local clinic reveals that faulty blood-pressure readings are being recorded. And Botswana has a new advice columnist, Aunty Emang, whose advice is rather curt for Mma Ramotswe's taste. All this means a lot of work for our heroine and her assistant, Grace Makutsi. But there's trouble brewing in Mma Makutsi's own life. When Phuti Radiphuti misses their customary dinner date, she begins to wonder if he is having second thoughts about their engagement. And while Mma Makutsi may be able to buy that fashionably narrow (and uncomfortable) pair of blue shoes, it may not buy her the happiness that Mma Ramotswe promises her she'll find in the simpler things--in contentment with the world and enough tea to smooth over the occasional bumps in the road.--From publisher description.

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