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The Pavilion in the Clouds
It is 1938 and the final days of the British Empire. In a bungalow high up in the green hills above the plains of Ceylon, under a vast blue sky, live the Ferguson family – Bella, a precocious eight year old, her father Henry – owner of Pitlochry, a tea plantation – and her mother Virginia. The story centres around the Pavilion in the Clouds, set in the idyllic grounds carved out of the wilderness. But all is not as serene as it seems. Bella is suspicious of her governess, Miss White's intentions. Her suspicion sparks off her mother's imagination and after an unfortunate series of events, a confrontation is had with Miss White and a gunshot rings off around the hills.
Years later, Bella, now living back in Scotland at university in St Andrews, is faced once again with her past. Will she at last find out what happened between her Father and Miss White? And will the guilt she has lived with all these years be reconciled by a long over-due apology?
Years later, Bella, now living back in Scotland at university in St Andrews, is faced once again with her past. Will she at last find out what happened between her Father and Miss White? And will the guilt she has lived with all these years be reconciled by a long over-due apology?
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First published August 5, 2021
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About the author
Alexander McCall Smith
659 books12.6k followersAlexander 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. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland. Visit him online at www.alexandermccallsmith.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 289 reviews
August 25, 2021
The Pavilion in the Clouds: A new stand-alone novel is set mostly on a tea plantation in Sri Lanka or, as it was known then, Ceylon. As usual for this author the atmosphere and way of life of the country is described to perfection.
Bella is eight years old and lives with her British parents on the plantation. She is accustomed to a life of privilege and has a governess although she is expected soon to leave her parents and go back to Scotland to further her education. However some strange events happen to her mother leading her to suspect her husband of having an affair with the governess. Is it true or is something else happening altogether? The mystery is not solved until many years later when Bella meets up again with the governess in Scotland.
In typical McCall Smith fashion there is a lot of philosophising and debate about life and living. The characters, on the surface at least, are thoughtful and caring but there is sometimes a hint of something else behind their good advice. When you discover the truth behind the tale you can look back and say "Yes of course! I knew that."
This is a gentle, absorbing and very readable book. I enjoyed it very much.
Bella is eight years old and lives with her British parents on the plantation. She is accustomed to a life of privilege and has a governess although she is expected soon to leave her parents and go back to Scotland to further her education. However some strange events happen to her mother leading her to suspect her husband of having an affair with the governess. Is it true or is something else happening altogether? The mystery is not solved until many years later when Bella meets up again with the governess in Scotland.
In typical McCall Smith fashion there is a lot of philosophising and debate about life and living. The characters, on the surface at least, are thoughtful and caring but there is sometimes a hint of something else behind their good advice. When you discover the truth behind the tale you can look back and say "Yes of course! I knew that."
This is a gentle, absorbing and very readable book. I enjoyed it very much.
March 29, 2022
Alexander McCall Smith is the prolific author known for his charming, cozy stand-alone novels and several popular ongoing series. His stories usually contain much humour. They are often told from a woman's point of view, asserting that women differ from men in their thought processes. He inserts a gentle, non-judgmental philosophy into many of his books, usually based on human kindness and living one's life in the best way. He has written stand-alone novels like this one and has long-running series on the go. My favourite is 44 Scotland Street, and next is The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency set in Botswana. This one takes place in 1938 in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and takes a more serious approach.
There are themes of elitism, colonial life and dominance, deception, gossip, suspicion, lies, guilt, and forgiveness. There is an observation that only Europeans, especially the British, are capable of running parts of the empire. The men control the businesses. Women's goal in life is to marry, and they have little need for higher education. Their role is to give moral support to their husband and care for their children.
The story begins on a British (Scottish) tea plantation in the hills of Ceylon. The men are preoccupied with their businesses and feel they are firmly head of their households, with their wives in subservient roles. Not much is expected of the women, but to oversee the household servants,child-care, and to verbally support their husbands. The married women live an idle life, spending languid days sipping tea on their verandas and gossiping to relieve their boredom. Some play tennis as a diversion.
Henry runs a successful tea plantation and supports many native workers on small wages. Daughter Bella is a bright 8-year old who enjoys being read to by her mother, Virginia. Bella loves Chinese poetry. She has transformed her two dolls into the personages of her two favourite Chinese poets. She has a vivid imagination and fantasizes that they talk to her and believes they see what is happening around them. Most nearby children are regarded as below the family's social status, so she lacks playmates. She regards a neighbouring boy, Richard, as a friend, but he will soon be leaving for boarding school in Scotland.
Her parents are vaguely aware of the growing resentment over British arrogance and power and suspect the natives want them gone. They have heard of the growing threats of Hitler and Mussolini in Europe, but this is rarely on their minds. They still consider Scotland to be 'home.' Children are sent to Britain or other European homelands to be educated.
Bella's parents hire a well-educated British woman, Lavender White, as her governess. She has been living in Calcutta. The wives do not consider her worthy of their elitist society. They regard her as an unattractive spinster and feel that she looks down on them due to her superior education and knowledge. Virginia has started a book club and does not invite Miss White least she considers them unschooled. Bella is making excellent progress in her schoolwork under Miss White's tutorship.
Virginia becomes obsessed with the thought that the plain, washed-up spinster is desperate to take her husband, fueled by gossip about straying husbands. The book club meets in the Pavilion in the Clouds, a building giving a spectacular view of the sky and the valley below. It sits on the cliff's edge and is partially supported over the ledge. When the building collapses, Virginia is hurled into the trees below.
Bella has sensed her mother's unease with Miss White. She utters a small falsehood that makes her injured mother even more suspicious of Miss White. There is an incident of a cobra in Virginia's magazine basket. Miss White offers her a glass of warm water, which to Virginia's growing paranoia, seems like untreated tap water meant to sicken her. Is there a plot to kill her so that Henry and Miss White can be together?
Bella's friend, Richard, advises her of a scheme to get rid of Miss White, thus making her mother happier. Bella follows his plan and does a terrible deed that will haunt her for many years. This results in Miss White being unjustly fired and sent away. Bella must travel to her aunt's home in Scotland to attend school.
The year 1949 finds Bella completing her education at University in Scotland. She and Richard have become a couple. Much has changed in the world with all the death and destruction of WW2. The British Empire has crumbled, and its past colonies are gaining independence. Bella seeks out Miss White hoping for forgiveness for the past wrongdoings committed against her. She is surprised by the changes in her former governess. I enjoyed the lovely fate of Bella's two dolls.
There are themes of elitism, colonial life and dominance, deception, gossip, suspicion, lies, guilt, and forgiveness. There is an observation that only Europeans, especially the British, are capable of running parts of the empire. The men control the businesses. Women's goal in life is to marry, and they have little need for higher education. Their role is to give moral support to their husband and care for their children.
The story begins on a British (Scottish) tea plantation in the hills of Ceylon. The men are preoccupied with their businesses and feel they are firmly head of their households, with their wives in subservient roles. Not much is expected of the women, but to oversee the household servants,child-care, and to verbally support their husbands. The married women live an idle life, spending languid days sipping tea on their verandas and gossiping to relieve their boredom. Some play tennis as a diversion.
Henry runs a successful tea plantation and supports many native workers on small wages. Daughter Bella is a bright 8-year old who enjoys being read to by her mother, Virginia. Bella loves Chinese poetry. She has transformed her two dolls into the personages of her two favourite Chinese poets. She has a vivid imagination and fantasizes that they talk to her and believes they see what is happening around them. Most nearby children are regarded as below the family's social status, so she lacks playmates. She regards a neighbouring boy, Richard, as a friend, but he will soon be leaving for boarding school in Scotland.
Her parents are vaguely aware of the growing resentment over British arrogance and power and suspect the natives want them gone. They have heard of the growing threats of Hitler and Mussolini in Europe, but this is rarely on their minds. They still consider Scotland to be 'home.' Children are sent to Britain or other European homelands to be educated.
Bella's parents hire a well-educated British woman, Lavender White, as her governess. She has been living in Calcutta. The wives do not consider her worthy of their elitist society. They regard her as an unattractive spinster and feel that she looks down on them due to her superior education and knowledge. Virginia has started a book club and does not invite Miss White least she considers them unschooled. Bella is making excellent progress in her schoolwork under Miss White's tutorship.
Virginia becomes obsessed with the thought that the plain, washed-up spinster is desperate to take her husband, fueled by gossip about straying husbands. The book club meets in the Pavilion in the Clouds, a building giving a spectacular view of the sky and the valley below. It sits on the cliff's edge and is partially supported over the ledge. When the building collapses, Virginia is hurled into the trees below.
Bella has sensed her mother's unease with Miss White. She utters a small falsehood that makes her injured mother even more suspicious of Miss White. There is an incident of a cobra in Virginia's magazine basket. Miss White offers her a glass of warm water, which to Virginia's growing paranoia, seems like untreated tap water meant to sicken her. Is there a plot to kill her so that Henry and Miss White can be together?
Bella's friend, Richard, advises her of a scheme to get rid of Miss White, thus making her mother happier. Bella follows his plan and does a terrible deed that will haunt her for many years. This results in Miss White being unjustly fired and sent away. Bella must travel to her aunt's home in Scotland to attend school.
The year 1949 finds Bella completing her education at University in Scotland. She and Richard have become a couple. Much has changed in the world with all the death and destruction of WW2. The British Empire has crumbled, and its past colonies are gaining independence. Bella seeks out Miss White hoping for forgiveness for the past wrongdoings committed against her. She is surprised by the changes in her former governess. I enjoyed the lovely fate of Bella's two dolls.
December 22, 2021
In this standalone novel, Alexander McCall Smith departs from his familiar haunts of the British Isles and Africa.Instead he transports the reader to a tea plantation in Ceylon in 1938. The themes prevalent in the authors body of work are transposed to this milieu. The plot is driven by human capacity to live a good life in spite of personal missteps that may occur. The narrative is characterized by the closely observed details and subtle observations that one expects in the author’s novels. There is also an aura of disquiet and mystery lurking within the unfolding events,
Three female characters are the center of the exposition and set the emotional landscape. Bella is a clever, intelligent eight year old who deflects her loneliness by talking to her two dolls that are named after Chinese poets. She selected these names because her mother, Virginia, taught her about Chinese poetry. Virginia is married to plantation owner Henry. Her existence is constrained within the colonial social cocoon that is isolated from the native culture sustaining her husband’s enterprise. As a form of diversion, Virginia has established a women’s reading group that meets in a tea garden, The Pavilion in the Clouds, nestled high in the hills of the family plantation. Bella’s governess, Miss White, is not a part of the reading circle. She is university educated, tall, unattractive and seemingly destined for spinsterhood. Her exclusion from the group is an example of class differentiation superseding gender solidarity in the highly stratified social structure. Miss White is more intellectually accomplished than the colonial wives. She does not conform to the norm of female subservience to a patriarchal society. Consequently, an unarticulated wariness exists between employer and employee.
The tension between the two adult women gradually creates a sense of unease for Bella. Subtly and sinuously, innuendos and veiled glances lead to misunderstandings and suspicions. An accident at the tea pavilion prompts Bella to deliberately mean actions. The repercussions linger with Bella and only approach resolution years later when she is back in Scotland at university.
The physical tea structure (Pavilion in the Clouds) is central to both the plot development and thematic content. The accidents occurring at the pavilion drive the misunderstandings and decisions that are at the emotional and ethical core of the novel. The pavilion serves as an emotional buttress for the British women that insulates them from a culture that they do not understand and provides a veneer of superiority and refuge. The accidental events at the pavilion force Virginia, and by extension the constricted society, to look within themselves.They have to recalibrate their sense of identity, belonging and morality. McCall Smith does not cast a judgmental lens on the individual or the society. Rather, he prompts the reader to consider the choices people make in their lives and the paths for forgiveness in the never ending quest to live a life of humanity and goodness. In this novel, we encounter characters that we probably will not meet again. However, they will remain in our memory.
Three female characters are the center of the exposition and set the emotional landscape. Bella is a clever, intelligent eight year old who deflects her loneliness by talking to her two dolls that are named after Chinese poets. She selected these names because her mother, Virginia, taught her about Chinese poetry. Virginia is married to plantation owner Henry. Her existence is constrained within the colonial social cocoon that is isolated from the native culture sustaining her husband’s enterprise. As a form of diversion, Virginia has established a women’s reading group that meets in a tea garden, The Pavilion in the Clouds, nestled high in the hills of the family plantation. Bella’s governess, Miss White, is not a part of the reading circle. She is university educated, tall, unattractive and seemingly destined for spinsterhood. Her exclusion from the group is an example of class differentiation superseding gender solidarity in the highly stratified social structure. Miss White is more intellectually accomplished than the colonial wives. She does not conform to the norm of female subservience to a patriarchal society. Consequently, an unarticulated wariness exists between employer and employee.
The tension between the two adult women gradually creates a sense of unease for Bella. Subtly and sinuously, innuendos and veiled glances lead to misunderstandings and suspicions. An accident at the tea pavilion prompts Bella to deliberately mean actions. The repercussions linger with Bella and only approach resolution years later when she is back in Scotland at university.
The physical tea structure (Pavilion in the Clouds) is central to both the plot development and thematic content. The accidents occurring at the pavilion drive the misunderstandings and decisions that are at the emotional and ethical core of the novel. The pavilion serves as an emotional buttress for the British women that insulates them from a culture that they do not understand and provides a veneer of superiority and refuge. The accidental events at the pavilion force Virginia, and by extension the constricted society, to look within themselves.They have to recalibrate their sense of identity, belonging and morality. McCall Smith does not cast a judgmental lens on the individual or the society. Rather, he prompts the reader to consider the choices people make in their lives and the paths for forgiveness in the never ending quest to live a life of humanity and goodness. In this novel, we encounter characters that we probably will not meet again. However, they will remain in our memory.
January 31, 2022
If you are a big fan of this author’s books, I think you will probably be satisfied. The Pavilion in the Clouds of the title might suggest a beautiful life or the clouds might point to something hidden or at least worrisome. The setting is initially Ceylon (before it was called Sri Lanka) and the time 1938. Adults see just enough of the future to be concerned. Hitler is threatening aggression, Japan is beginning to rattle sabres in the East, India is becoming dissatisfied with colonial rule and Ceylon promises to be not far behind. Women feel dissatisfaction with not being able to take more control over their lives. These themes are tossed around a little superficially to my thinking.
My favorite parts of the book deal with the interactions between the wife of the tea plantation owner and her eight year old daughter. That seems genuine. Although the author shows sympathy for the trapped adults even when they behave badly, it may be misplaced sympathy. This is not one of his detective series books, but it can be seen as a mystery without a murder.
My favorite parts of the book deal with the interactions between the wife of the tea plantation owner and her eight year old daughter. That seems genuine. Although the author shows sympathy for the trapped adults even when they behave badly, it may be misplaced sympathy. This is not one of his detective series books, but it can be seen as a mystery without a murder.
May 10, 2023
Alexander McCall Smith’s writing has such a peaceful, almost misty quality to it. In this story, the main character is a child for most of the book, then a young adult for the last part. Guilt over an act of childhood treachery leads the young woman to make an apology, at which point the story finally becomes crystal clear. Well told.
April 22, 2025
“The Pavilion in the Clouds” by Alexander McCall Smith is a standalone historical novel set in 1938 Ceylon. The story centers on Bella, the imaginative eight-year-old daughter of a tea plantation owner. Despite its calm and pleasant tone, the novel carries an undercurrent of unease—both from the local Ceylonese people regarding British colonization and from the growing specter of Fascism in Europe.
As with all of Smith's works, philosophical musings are woven throughout the narrative. Here they explore the intricacies of a child's imaginary world alongside deeper reflections on colonialism. True to his style, there are also thoughtful discussions on poetry.
Overall, the novel offers a comfortable and engaging read. I experienced it as an audiobook through Audible, narrated by David Rintoul, whose performance masterfully brings the story to life. The recording runs for six hours and forty-nine minutes.
As with all of Smith's works, philosophical musings are woven throughout the narrative. Here they explore the intricacies of a child's imaginary world alongside deeper reflections on colonialism. True to his style, there are also thoughtful discussions on poetry.
Overall, the novel offers a comfortable and engaging read. I experienced it as an audiobook through Audible, narrated by David Rintoul, whose performance masterfully brings the story to life. The recording runs for six hours and forty-nine minutes.
October 24, 2021
The Pavilion In The Clouds is a stand-alone novel by popular Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith. In 1938, when Bella Ferguson is eight, her parents employ a live-in governess, Miss Lavender White. Henry Ferguson owns a tea plantation in Ceylon, and rather than send Bella home to Scotland, he and Virginia decide to arrange tuition on their estate, Pitlochry.
Miss White is an excellent teacher and Bella enjoys her lessons. But it seemed that Virginia is somewhat intimidated by Miss White’s intellect, and Bella picks up on this when her mother questions her about her governess.
Bella begins to suspect that Miss White is trying to get rid of her mother so she can marry her daddy, and her dolls, Li Po and Po Chü-i, named after Chinese poets and exhibiting their quite individual personalities, seem to agree, especially after a few strange incidents.
Bella’s best friend Richard Macmillan, the ten-year-old son of another plantation owner, suggests a way to get Miss Lavender to go away. This would have the added advantage of Bella being able to go back home to Scotland for school, as Richard will soon do.
About those incidents, and certain things Bella has said, Virginia feels the need to consult her closest friend in the area, Heather Macmillan. Heather has seen it all before, and suggests quick action. Which is what happens. Later Bella is a bit sorry for what she has done, but she never expects to see Miss White again.
McCall Smith is such a skilled story-teller, and here, his main narrators are the slightly precocious Bella with her dolls and her diary and her very active imagination, and the perhaps over-sensitive Virginia. Suspicions are aroused by misinterpreted looks and words, a potentially fatal fall, unrefrigerated water and a cobra.
As always, there’s plenty of gentle philosophy on a myriad of topics including colonisation, killing wild animals, the concept of home, intelligence and spinsterhood, a male-dominated society, that men and women think differently, competitiveness. And he includes a delightful twist (or two) in the final resolution.
About bible stories: “we had to believe in something, she told herself, because the truth sometimes seemed too thin to satisfy our yearnings.”
“We are uninvited guests, just as we are uninvited guests in every corner of the globe, and yet we take it upon ourselves to dictate how things should be done. That was the massive, almost unbelievable, conceit upon which the whole colonial enterprise was built, and yet nobody seemed to see.”
Insightful, sometimes poignant and often humorous, whether his setting is in present day London, Edinburgh, Botswana or pre-war Ceylon, McCall Smith's grasp of people and relationships is superb. Always a delight to read.
Miss White is an excellent teacher and Bella enjoys her lessons. But it seemed that Virginia is somewhat intimidated by Miss White’s intellect, and Bella picks up on this when her mother questions her about her governess.
Bella begins to suspect that Miss White is trying to get rid of her mother so she can marry her daddy, and her dolls, Li Po and Po Chü-i, named after Chinese poets and exhibiting their quite individual personalities, seem to agree, especially after a few strange incidents.
Bella’s best friend Richard Macmillan, the ten-year-old son of another plantation owner, suggests a way to get Miss Lavender to go away. This would have the added advantage of Bella being able to go back home to Scotland for school, as Richard will soon do.
About those incidents, and certain things Bella has said, Virginia feels the need to consult her closest friend in the area, Heather Macmillan. Heather has seen it all before, and suggests quick action. Which is what happens. Later Bella is a bit sorry for what she has done, but she never expects to see Miss White again.
McCall Smith is such a skilled story-teller, and here, his main narrators are the slightly precocious Bella with her dolls and her diary and her very active imagination, and the perhaps over-sensitive Virginia. Suspicions are aroused by misinterpreted looks and words, a potentially fatal fall, unrefrigerated water and a cobra.
As always, there’s plenty of gentle philosophy on a myriad of topics including colonisation, killing wild animals, the concept of home, intelligence and spinsterhood, a male-dominated society, that men and women think differently, competitiveness. And he includes a delightful twist (or two) in the final resolution.
About bible stories: “we had to believe in something, she told herself, because the truth sometimes seemed too thin to satisfy our yearnings.”
“We are uninvited guests, just as we are uninvited guests in every corner of the globe, and yet we take it upon ourselves to dictate how things should be done. That was the massive, almost unbelievable, conceit upon which the whole colonial enterprise was built, and yet nobody seemed to see.”
Insightful, sometimes poignant and often humorous, whether his setting is in present day London, Edinburgh, Botswana or pre-war Ceylon, McCall Smith's grasp of people and relationships is superb. Always a delight to read.
October 2, 2022
I’m in an hotel on my travels. It feels quite appropriate to be doing this when writing this review, as this novel explores exile from one’s own land. Alexander McCall Smith deals with this aspect well here, I feel, although with a slightly insistent tone. The novel is set in what was then Ceylon (Sri Lanka), before the Second World War, when the British Empire was starting to fall apart . . . like the lives of the family here. I did turn the pages quickly, caught up in the unfolding of events, as clues to something unwholesome in the background are laid out; but I found towards the end that the tension fizzles out, and the end is, at best, staid, the last page contrived and just too neatly tied-up for words. I think that this loss of dramatic tension may be in part a consequence of a time leap, following a gap in the characters’ lives of over ten years. Having said that, the time span is necessary for the theme of dealing with one’s past to be worked out.
I enjoyed the “No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” books by this author – he seems really good at evoking a foreign landscape – and I also enjoyed a children’s series I bought for my grandchildren, “The School Ship Tobermory”, but I wasn’t enchanted by his “Scotland Street” (Edinburgh) books, from bits and pieces heard on the radio. On the whole I find his Scottishness rather heavy-handed, especially when compared (is that fair?) to Robert Louis Stevenson, whom I have just read. RLS cheerfully passes himself off as “an Englishman” (as seen by Belgians he meets), something I can’t imagine Alexander McCall Smith doing. That in itself is not a criticism, of course (my own half-Scottish, half-Welsh background is how I identify myself) but here I felt it became rather plodding and insistent. The emphasis on Scottishness is not intrinsic to the exploration of guilt (though it could very well be!), reconciliation and forgiveness. It’s just there because historically it’s pertinent and because Alexander McCall Smith’s writing is so very Scottish. He’s one of the most popular and prolific novelists in Scotland and his novels read easily. But his Scottishness seems to draw on our admittedly didactic tradition, which, I feel, detracts from his obvious skill and enjoyment as an author.
The other theme I felt was set out rather baldly was an early feminism amongst the wives of the Scottish tea planters. It seemed as if the characters’ opinions had been overlaid with a thinking from the later twentieth century. I found myself wondering what it was like, as a male author, to depict women. I’ve tried it myself, the other way round, writing about a young man, and judged myself as lacking in that regard! I kept turning the pages of “Pavilion in the Clouds”, but the characters had a stereotyped feel, even the men. I concede that this may very well have been deliberate, in order better to reflect the way things must have been in the stilted days of stiff-backed British Imperialism.
Well, the four stars are for my enjoyment of the setting and the tale that kept me reading. An exotic touch was the inclusion of the presence of two Chinese poets (actually dolls) with whom the child’s viewpoint is explored. Sadly, though, I can’t recall any evidence of their poetry, although there may have been one or two references. Alexander McCall Smith’s penchant towards didacticism gets a free run with Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach”, which was a little gem towards the end!
Just before writing this I saw that Daniel has reviewed it, so off I go to read what I believe will be a sensitive, well-rounded and appreciative review of all the evocative aspects of this book (oops, there’s that Scottish guilt raising its head again . . . ). This anticipated pleasure will have to wait till this evening, though, as check-out is in two minutes!
I enjoyed the “No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” books by this author – he seems really good at evoking a foreign landscape – and I also enjoyed a children’s series I bought for my grandchildren, “The School Ship Tobermory”, but I wasn’t enchanted by his “Scotland Street” (Edinburgh) books, from bits and pieces heard on the radio. On the whole I find his Scottishness rather heavy-handed, especially when compared (is that fair?) to Robert Louis Stevenson, whom I have just read. RLS cheerfully passes himself off as “an Englishman” (as seen by Belgians he meets), something I can’t imagine Alexander McCall Smith doing. That in itself is not a criticism, of course (my own half-Scottish, half-Welsh background is how I identify myself) but here I felt it became rather plodding and insistent. The emphasis on Scottishness is not intrinsic to the exploration of guilt (though it could very well be!), reconciliation and forgiveness. It’s just there because historically it’s pertinent and because Alexander McCall Smith’s writing is so very Scottish. He’s one of the most popular and prolific novelists in Scotland and his novels read easily. But his Scottishness seems to draw on our admittedly didactic tradition, which, I feel, detracts from his obvious skill and enjoyment as an author.
The other theme I felt was set out rather baldly was an early feminism amongst the wives of the Scottish tea planters. It seemed as if the characters’ opinions had been overlaid with a thinking from the later twentieth century. I found myself wondering what it was like, as a male author, to depict women. I’ve tried it myself, the other way round, writing about a young man, and judged myself as lacking in that regard! I kept turning the pages of “Pavilion in the Clouds”, but the characters had a stereotyped feel, even the men. I concede that this may very well have been deliberate, in order better to reflect the way things must have been in the stilted days of stiff-backed British Imperialism.
Well, the four stars are for my enjoyment of the setting and the tale that kept me reading. An exotic touch was the inclusion of the presence of two Chinese poets (actually dolls) with whom the child’s viewpoint is explored. Sadly, though, I can’t recall any evidence of their poetry, although there may have been one or two references. Alexander McCall Smith’s penchant towards didacticism gets a free run with Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach”, which was a little gem towards the end!
Just before writing this I saw that Daniel has reviewed it, so off I go to read what I believe will be a sensitive, well-rounded and appreciative review of all the evocative aspects of this book (oops, there’s that Scottish guilt raising its head again . . . ). This anticipated pleasure will have to wait till this evening, though, as check-out is in two minutes!
September 9, 2021
A slightly different Alexander McCall Smith, in a sense, but still definitively his style! A charming story!
August 3, 2022
A standalone book with an engaging story of a little girl living on a tea plantation in 1938 Ceylon. There's a bit of suspense involving her mother and her governess.
May 15, 2022
The first 80 percent of the book is set in (the then) Ceylon, following a 9 year old - Bella- and her governess and her two talking dolls and some drama between the father, the mother and the governess. Then the book skips ten years and and wraps it all up. The problem is I never cared. Tt just all seem so stilted and inconsequential. Particularly since both the mother and Bella spend a lot of time telling the reader how they they think colonialism might be wrong. It just didn't feel authentic. And the book is not particually interesting. And the dolls - I understand they are a metaphor, but it's awfully clunky.
September 26, 2022
So far, this is the only book of his I've read that is not part of the No1 Ladies Detective series. I liked it, but I didn't like it as much as those books. I think because it is a stand alone novel I didn't feel invested in the characters. Worth a read though.
October 5, 2024
Set mainly in 1938 Ceylon (Sri Lanka), this was an enjoyable stand-alone book by McCall Smith. The author is always meticulous in details, along with gentle humor and tact, even when discussing somewhat touchy topics, such as "What is the right thing to do?" Personal and/or worldly wrongs, do we carry the woes and guilt upon our shoulders, do we apologize and try to make things right, or do we simply just let them go? I loved the Chinese poet dolls, Li-Po and Po Chu-i, figures who were so important to an isolated 8-year-old girl. Listened to the audiobook, narrated by David Rintoul.
October 25, 2021
The Pavilion In The Clouds is a stand-alone novel by popular Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith. The audio version is narrated by David Rintoul. In 1938, when Bella Ferguson is eight, her parents employ a live-in governess, Miss Lavender White. Henry Ferguson owns a tea plantation in Ceylon, and rather than send Bella home to Scotland, he and Virginia decide to arrange tuition on their estate, Pitlochry.
Miss White is an excellent teacher and Bella enjoys her lessons. But it seemed that Virginia is somewhat intimidated by Miss White’s intellect, and Bella picks up on this when her mother questions her about her governess.
Bella begins to suspect that Miss White is trying to get rid of her mother so she can marry her daddy, and her dolls, Li Po and Po Chü-i, named after Chinese poets and exhibiting their quite individual personalities, seem to agree, especially after a few strange incidents.
Bella’s best friend Richard Macmillan, the ten-year-old son of another plantation owner, suggests a way to get Miss Lavender to go away. This would have the added advantage of Bella being able to go back home to Scotland for school, as Richard will soon do.
About those incidents, and certain things Bella has said, Virginia feels the need to consult her closest friend in the area, Heather Macmillan. Heather has seen it all before, and suggests quick action. Which is what happens. Later Bella is a bit sorry for what she has done, but she never expects to see Miss White again.
McCall Smith is such a skilled story-teller, and here, his main narrators are the slightly precocious Bella with her dolls and her diary and her very active imagination, and the perhaps over-sensitive Virginia. Suspicions are aroused by misinterpreted looks and words, a potentially fatal fall, unrefrigerated water and a cobra.
As always, there’s plenty of gentle philosophy on a myriad of topics including colonisation, killing wild animals, the concept of home, intelligence and spinsterhood, a male-dominated society, that men and women think differently, competitiveness. And he includes a delightful twist (or two) in the final resolution.
About bible stories: “we had to believe in something, she told herself, because the truth sometimes seemed too thin to satisfy our yearnings.”
“We are uninvited guests, just as we are uninvited guests in every corner of the globe, and yet we take it upon ourselves to dictate how things should be done. That was the massive, almost unbelievable, conceit upon which the whole colonial enterprise was built, and yet nobody seemed to see.”
Insightful, sometimes poignant and often humorous, whether his setting is in present day London, Edinburgh, Botswana or pre-war Ceylon, McCall Smith's grasp of people and relationships is superb. Always a delight to read.
Miss White is an excellent teacher and Bella enjoys her lessons. But it seemed that Virginia is somewhat intimidated by Miss White’s intellect, and Bella picks up on this when her mother questions her about her governess.
Bella begins to suspect that Miss White is trying to get rid of her mother so she can marry her daddy, and her dolls, Li Po and Po Chü-i, named after Chinese poets and exhibiting their quite individual personalities, seem to agree, especially after a few strange incidents.
Bella’s best friend Richard Macmillan, the ten-year-old son of another plantation owner, suggests a way to get Miss Lavender to go away. This would have the added advantage of Bella being able to go back home to Scotland for school, as Richard will soon do.
About those incidents, and certain things Bella has said, Virginia feels the need to consult her closest friend in the area, Heather Macmillan. Heather has seen it all before, and suggests quick action. Which is what happens. Later Bella is a bit sorry for what she has done, but she never expects to see Miss White again.
McCall Smith is such a skilled story-teller, and here, his main narrators are the slightly precocious Bella with her dolls and her diary and her very active imagination, and the perhaps over-sensitive Virginia. Suspicions are aroused by misinterpreted looks and words, a potentially fatal fall, unrefrigerated water and a cobra.
As always, there’s plenty of gentle philosophy on a myriad of topics including colonisation, killing wild animals, the concept of home, intelligence and spinsterhood, a male-dominated society, that men and women think differently, competitiveness. And he includes a delightful twist (or two) in the final resolution.
About bible stories: “we had to believe in something, she told herself, because the truth sometimes seemed too thin to satisfy our yearnings.”
“We are uninvited guests, just as we are uninvited guests in every corner of the globe, and yet we take it upon ourselves to dictate how things should be done. That was the massive, almost unbelievable, conceit upon which the whole colonial enterprise was built, and yet nobody seemed to see.”
Insightful, sometimes poignant and often humorous, whether his setting is in present day London, Edinburgh, Botswana or pre-war Ceylon, McCall Smith's grasp of people and relationships is superb. Always a delight to read.
July 6, 2022
[Virginia] had a taste for translations of Chinese poetry and would read from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems even if the subject matter was far above her daughter’s head. That did not worry Bella, who liked everything her mother read to her, and who thought of the Chinese poets as being exotic foreign uncles. She had a small family of stuffed dolls, and she named these after them.
This stand-alone historical novel begins in 1938 on a tea plantation in Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) and it’s centered on the Scottish family who owns the plantation. Most of the story is seen through the eyes of the child – kindhearted, imaginative, perceptive little Bella.
Compared with the many light-hearted series by Alexander McCall Smith, this novel feels different – more somber, less humorous – yet still filled with charming philosophical musings and wonderful characters. And two of my favorite characters are Bella’s Chinese poet dolls, who talk to her and have very decided opinions of their own (of course they do):
Li Po and Po Chü-i had scrapbooks too, that she maintained for them, although their taste in pictures differed from hers. Li Po liked photographs of food, while Po Chü-i liked pictures of birds. “You like very different things, don’t you?” she said to them.
“We went to different schools,” Li Po replied. “That is why we are so different. One day I’ll tell you all about those days.”
This book felt much more mysterious than the “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” books since I was worried that Virginia’s life was in danger. And have I mentioned the ending?! WOW! Not only was it a surprise ending, but quite a murky one, with lots of loose ends. At the end of an Alexander McCall Smith novel, he usually ties up everything with a tidy bow, but not here. Then I realized…oh, he wants me to figure this out for myself! So I had to rethink literally everything to come up with my version of what actually happened. And I absolutely loved it!
Recommended for: fans of Alexander McCall Smith, historical fiction with hints of mystery and family secrets, and endings that make you think.
Where I found it: Library ebook.
This stand-alone historical novel begins in 1938 on a tea plantation in Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) and it’s centered on the Scottish family who owns the plantation. Most of the story is seen through the eyes of the child – kindhearted, imaginative, perceptive little Bella.
Compared with the many light-hearted series by Alexander McCall Smith, this novel feels different – more somber, less humorous – yet still filled with charming philosophical musings and wonderful characters. And two of my favorite characters are Bella’s Chinese poet dolls, who talk to her and have very decided opinions of their own (of course they do):
Li Po and Po Chü-i had scrapbooks too, that she maintained for them, although their taste in pictures differed from hers. Li Po liked photographs of food, while Po Chü-i liked pictures of birds. “You like very different things, don’t you?” she said to them.
“We went to different schools,” Li Po replied. “That is why we are so different. One day I’ll tell you all about those days.”
This book felt much more mysterious than the “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” books since I was worried that Virginia’s life was in danger. And have I mentioned the ending?! WOW! Not only was it a surprise ending, but quite a murky one, with lots of loose ends. At the end of an Alexander McCall Smith novel, he usually ties up everything with a tidy bow, but not here. Then I realized…oh, he wants me to figure this out for myself! So I had to rethink literally everything to come up with my version of what actually happened. And I absolutely loved it!
Recommended for: fans of Alexander McCall Smith, historical fiction with hints of mystery and family secrets, and endings that make you think.
Where I found it: Library ebook.
February 26, 2023
This was not one of my favorites from Alexander McCall Smith…perhaps because it is a stand alone work and I never felt invested in the characters.
April 30, 2022
This appears to be a one-off book from McCall Smith’s series. There is no mystery and no quirky characters. Instead AMS appears to be making a statement on the British Empire and the empty lives of the women who accompany their husbands to distant lands (in this case Ceylon) and have noting to do but to be decorative and fritter their lives away at “the club.’
The story is set in 1938 It is 1938 in a bungalow high up in the green hills above the plains of Ceylon, under: The Ferguson family consists of Bella, a precocious eight-year-old, her father Henry – owner of Pitlochry, a tea plantation – and her mother Virginia. Also living in the household is Bella’s governess, Lavender White..
Their life appears to be idyllic, but it is not as serene as it seems. Bella is suspicious of her governess Miss White’s intentions. Her intuition sparks off her mother’s imagination, and, after an unfortunate series of events, a confrontation results in Miss White losing her position and an emotional confrontation with gunfire.
McCall Smith uses this novel to make his feelings of both the British Empire (an imperialistic horror) and the British colonialists who kept the Empire running. This is a big change from the author’s usual fare, but makes for a thought provoking read.
The story is set in 1938 It is 1938 in a bungalow high up in the green hills above the plains of Ceylon, under: The Ferguson family consists of Bella, a precocious eight-year-old, her father Henry – owner of Pitlochry, a tea plantation – and her mother Virginia. Also living in the household is Bella’s governess, Lavender White..
Their life appears to be idyllic, but it is not as serene as it seems. Bella is suspicious of her governess Miss White’s intentions. Her intuition sparks off her mother’s imagination, and, after an unfortunate series of events, a confrontation results in Miss White losing her position and an emotional confrontation with gunfire.
McCall Smith uses this novel to make his feelings of both the British Empire (an imperialistic horror) and the British colonialists who kept the Empire running. This is a big change from the author’s usual fare, but makes for a thought provoking read.
January 1, 2023
I had never read anything by Alexander McCall Smith, and this was a good beginning! Initially set in the waning days of the British Empire, picturesque Ceylon is the background for the much of the action. The author evokes a strong sense of place, and the perils that abound.
‘Nature here was not benign: there were all sorts of dangers that had to guarded against, ranging from the minor irritation of biting insects to the potential catastrophe of a snake bite. There were flash floods, there were lightning storms, there was the ever-present danger of rabies in both wild and domestic animals.’
Partly coming-of-age, with an element of mystery, Pavilion in the Clouds held my interest. The author writes well, but he isn’t too wordy! At slightly over two hundred pages, the novel had a refreshingly different plot, and was very readable.
‘Nature here was not benign: there were all sorts of dangers that had to guarded against, ranging from the minor irritation of biting insects to the potential catastrophe of a snake bite. There were flash floods, there were lightning storms, there was the ever-present danger of rabies in both wild and domestic animals.’
Partly coming-of-age, with an element of mystery, Pavilion in the Clouds held my interest. The author writes well, but he isn’t too wordy! At slightly over two hundred pages, the novel had a refreshingly different plot, and was very readable.
December 31, 2022
I really enjoyed this story and in particular I liked the two dolls (named after Chinese poets). They were the watch keepers of secrets and provided the reader with that sense of childhood memory and wonder. I also have fond memories of visiting this part of Sri Lanka. It truely is a place in the clouds.
June 26, 2024
An OK book.
October 15, 2023
A cosy interesting little mystery set in colonial Sri Lanka about a family of Scottish Colonist tea plantation owners. Being from their point of view it only brushed upon the Tamil people working for them, not totally ignoring Colonialism but treating it more lightly than it deserves.
Still, it was a gentle level of story telling that suited bedtime listening and didn't invade my sleep with nightmares, that's for sure. Just what I needed at the moment.
Still, it was a gentle level of story telling that suited bedtime listening and didn't invade my sleep with nightmares, that's for sure. Just what I needed at the moment.
September 27, 2021
Alexander McCall Smith is an optimist with a strong focus on the simplicities of the past and the need for compassion. I imagine him smiling as he writes. His books explore the minutiae of life with a focus on forgiveness and on addressing but not dwelling on the wrongs of the past.
This makes for comforting reading and why so many people reach for his books when they need a comfort read. There's very little technology in his books and his characters always have a lot going on, philosophically, in their heads.
The Pavilion in the Clouds is a stand-alone novel he wrote during the first year of the pandemic. It is a reminiscence of the period just before the second world war when Sri Lanka was Ceylon and still part of the British Empire. Scotland has a strong connection with colonial Ceylon and many of the estates are named after Scottish towns.
In this world of tea plantations the empire still existed on a thread. There was talk of the colonialists being increasingly unwelcome. At the same time the wives had very little to do. They had cooks, governesses and housekeepers. No matter what personal ambition they may have had their lives revolved around the Club, tennis and cucumber sandwiches. Their children were sent back 'home' at age 9 or 10 to go to boarding school.
It is 1938 and eight year old Bella is an intelligent young lady with a governess who is giving her a broad education. Her mother Virginia is constrained by, yet largely accepting of, her life as a wife and mother. She doesn't quite fit in with the other wives who play tennis and drink Gin & tonic at lunch. Rather she has set up a reading group who meets in a beautiful pavilion set on the cliffside of their plantation. On some days when the cloud is low in the valley it looks as it it is floating in the clouds.
The novel is set between 1938 and the 1950s and centres around the relationship between Bella, her governess Miss White and her mother Virginia and the impact of tension and misunderstandings between them.
Alexander McCall Smith's most examined protagonists are overwhelmingly female - Mma Ramotswe, Isabel Dalhousie, Domenica McDonald, Irene Pollock. While I love his books I feel his portrayals of women have been cliched. So I was interested to read a recent release of to see how he voices female characters over time.
Through his books I feel he sympathises with the female 'lot in life' but he still believes the trope that Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus; an unsubstantiated and long dispelled trope that is limiting and which is easy to nod your head along to without thinking. So while he has arguably drawn strong female characters, they are all drawn from a male perspective of what he imagines is in our heads. I had hoped this had evolved over time but it hasn't. His characters felt cartoon-like without the humour that his other novels have, like we are imagining their lives from a drawing in a book or an photo in National Geographic where we only read the caption, rather than knowing them first hand.
So, his examination of the role of women in colonial Ceylon was interesting and created an interest in the era but fell short of the mark for me.
This makes for comforting reading and why so many people reach for his books when they need a comfort read. There's very little technology in his books and his characters always have a lot going on, philosophically, in their heads.
The Pavilion in the Clouds is a stand-alone novel he wrote during the first year of the pandemic. It is a reminiscence of the period just before the second world war when Sri Lanka was Ceylon and still part of the British Empire. Scotland has a strong connection with colonial Ceylon and many of the estates are named after Scottish towns.
In this world of tea plantations the empire still existed on a thread. There was talk of the colonialists being increasingly unwelcome. At the same time the wives had very little to do. They had cooks, governesses and housekeepers. No matter what personal ambition they may have had their lives revolved around the Club, tennis and cucumber sandwiches. Their children were sent back 'home' at age 9 or 10 to go to boarding school.
It is 1938 and eight year old Bella is an intelligent young lady with a governess who is giving her a broad education. Her mother Virginia is constrained by, yet largely accepting of, her life as a wife and mother. She doesn't quite fit in with the other wives who play tennis and drink Gin & tonic at lunch. Rather she has set up a reading group who meets in a beautiful pavilion set on the cliffside of their plantation. On some days when the cloud is low in the valley it looks as it it is floating in the clouds.
The novel is set between 1938 and the 1950s and centres around the relationship between Bella, her governess Miss White and her mother Virginia and the impact of tension and misunderstandings between them.
Alexander McCall Smith's most examined protagonists are overwhelmingly female - Mma Ramotswe, Isabel Dalhousie, Domenica McDonald, Irene Pollock. While I love his books I feel his portrayals of women have been cliched. So I was interested to read a recent release of to see how he voices female characters over time.
Through his books I feel he sympathises with the female 'lot in life' but he still believes the trope that Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus; an unsubstantiated and long dispelled trope that is limiting and which is easy to nod your head along to without thinking. So while he has arguably drawn strong female characters, they are all drawn from a male perspective of what he imagines is in our heads. I had hoped this had evolved over time but it hasn't. His characters felt cartoon-like without the humour that his other novels have, like we are imagining their lives from a drawing in a book or an photo in National Geographic where we only read the caption, rather than knowing them first hand.
So, his examination of the role of women in colonial Ceylon was interesting and created an interest in the era but fell short of the mark for me.
August 9, 2021
Great stuff!
Typical of the usual first rate standard of this author. Full of empathy understanding kindness and humanity. A memorable read.
Typical of the usual first rate standard of this author. Full of empathy understanding kindness and humanity. A memorable read.
July 11, 2025
Never judge a book by its cover.
I bought this book because of the beautiful artwork, and the blurb. It is banal, repetitive, and simplistic. He doesn't know how to write? It is third person omniscient, but Smith can't seem to decide which perspective he is telling. The Sri Lankan landscape offered so many opportunities to create an atmosphere that would be memorable, but it is largely forgotten by the author after a few chapters. The characters are surface level, and the writing feels disingenuous - the last interaction between Bella and Richard felt especially stilted and amateurish. Again, so much potential that was not realised. There are random outbursts of feminist and postcolonial pondering which feel simplistic, tokenistic, repetitive and out of place - it feels as though it was written from the perspective of a white man who did very little research into the experiences of women or the Tamil peoples (his ramblings had NO DEPTH despite going on for pages and pages). Therefore, the effort to illuminate ostensibly anachronistic perspectives surrounding feminism and postcolonialism fall flat.
I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt, but it increasingly became very difficult. The climax alluded to in the blurb - "a shot ringing out across the valley" - is highly anticlimactic and inconsequential.
This feels like a sketch for a book which could have been interesting, but was printed before it went to the editors. Do yourself a favour and read McEwan. 'Atonement' has a similar plot, but is 10 times better.
7:46PM.
I bought this book because of the beautiful artwork, and the blurb. It is banal, repetitive, and simplistic. He doesn't know how to write? It is third person omniscient, but Smith can't seem to decide which perspective he is telling. The Sri Lankan landscape offered so many opportunities to create an atmosphere that would be memorable, but it is largely forgotten by the author after a few chapters. The characters are surface level, and the writing feels disingenuous - the last interaction between Bella and Richard felt especially stilted and amateurish. Again, so much potential that was not realised. There are random outbursts of feminist and postcolonial pondering which feel simplistic, tokenistic, repetitive and out of place - it feels as though it was written from the perspective of a white man who did very little research into the experiences of women or the Tamil peoples (his ramblings had NO DEPTH despite going on for pages and pages). Therefore, the effort to illuminate ostensibly anachronistic perspectives surrounding feminism and postcolonialism fall flat.
I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt, but it increasingly became very difficult. The climax alluded to in the blurb - "a shot ringing out across the valley" - is highly anticlimactic and inconsequential.
This feels like a sketch for a book which could have been interesting, but was printed before it went to the editors. Do yourself a favour and read McEwan. 'Atonement' has a similar plot, but is 10 times better.
7:46PM.
January 14, 2023
I've loved all the AMS books I've read. This one has the trademark Smith philosophical wanderings & nuggets of wisdom, but it's a very different setting than most of his books. It's set in the waning period of the British Empire, just before the Japanese begin to spread across the mainland, in Ceylon, which will later become Sri Lanka. It's set on a tea planter's estate & the main theme is the way a secluded society of people can develop overheated emotions & twist reality into a labyrinth of suspicion & lies. It was a fascinating look into this community of Scottish transplants who are trying to make a living in a foreign land, but yearn for "home". He does a wonderful job of seeing the action from various points of view as we see the young Bella view events, her mother, her father, & her governess. Quite good.
July 19, 2021
Absolutely loved this book. Tells the story of Bella as a young girl in Ceylon and then later at university in St Andrews.
I love the two dolls who are named after Chinese poets and accompany her and her confidantes.
The ending is rather abrupt and I suppose you can choose which way the meeting with her governess after over 10 years goes, but still a really good read.
I love the two dolls who are named after Chinese poets and accompany her and her confidantes.
The ending is rather abrupt and I suppose you can choose which way the meeting with her governess after over 10 years goes, but still a really good read.
September 19, 2021
An atmospheric story. I was attracted to this book as members of my family had a tea plantation in Ceylon and raised a family there and this gave me an inkling of their possible lifestyle. Bella’s tale was an intriguing one and the ending was satisfying.
April 11, 2023
Short and sweet. Interesting view of the past. However I came away wondering if anyone was telling the truth. I wonder why I didn't trust the explanation in the end? David Rintoul is a wonderful narrator.
December 29, 2023
A different read then the No. 1 Ladies detective agency.
July 24, 2023
2 stars. Mann, what do I even say. For a book with such a good quote on the first page, it was such a disappointment.
“The idea of home was something you carried somewhere inside you together with an understanding that you would never be fully accepted, even if you happened to be born in this country. And you had ways of compensating for that — by making the place you found yourself in seem as much like home as possible.”
I read this and resonated with it, thinking “wow, this is gonna be a great book about being ethnic in a white country”. Then I found out the people were white…
This book confuses me, on one hand you have this wife who’s seeing through a lot of the sexism and racism present, and the next minute she’s making fun of the native people’s noses. There were so many moments like this throughout the book, I genuinely don’t understand what to take from it?? I guess it makes sense, even though these people can be quite progressive for their time, they’re still not going to see ALL the issues there are. But still, idk. This book basically consisted of me flicking between respecting the progressive views, then annoyed af at some of the comments they make, then being sympathetic for these white people? And it was genuinely not in a ‘humans are complex’ type of way, just in a genuinely confusing type of way. Also, the plot was just so boring, everything felt so stiff and I didn’t care about anyone.
Nonetheless, here’s one of my other favourite parts:
“If it took one woman ten minutes to change a baby, how long would it take one man to change one baby? A lot longer than ten minutes, she imagined, because he would spend fifteen minutes looking around for a woman to pass the baby onto to be changed.”
And some runner ups:
“I think you’re right. I’ve been hoping that I’d discover that men were infinitely fascinating, but the truth is, they’re not.”
“We would become cosmic dust, it said. If that was our fate — and the astronomers seemed agreed on it — then did it make much sense for us to treat our brief moment too seriously? She sighed. She would like to be able to discuss this with somebody, but who was there?”
“Did people not think about what they did before they did it?”
“Boys did things like that, of course, because boys were… well, boys were a bit stupid. But some of the things they did were not so stupid and were exciting, and made her think that all the times boys were having more fun and laughing at girls because they could do all those things that girls were not allowed to do.”
“The idea of home was something you carried somewhere inside you together with an understanding that you would never be fully accepted, even if you happened to be born in this country. And you had ways of compensating for that — by making the place you found yourself in seem as much like home as possible.”
I read this and resonated with it, thinking “wow, this is gonna be a great book about being ethnic in a white country”. Then I found out the people were white…
This book confuses me, on one hand you have this wife who’s seeing through a lot of the sexism and racism present, and the next minute she’s making fun of the native people’s noses. There were so many moments like this throughout the book, I genuinely don’t understand what to take from it?? I guess it makes sense, even though these people can be quite progressive for their time, they’re still not going to see ALL the issues there are. But still, idk. This book basically consisted of me flicking between respecting the progressive views, then annoyed af at some of the comments they make, then being sympathetic for these white people? And it was genuinely not in a ‘humans are complex’ type of way, just in a genuinely confusing type of way. Also, the plot was just so boring, everything felt so stiff and I didn’t care about anyone.
Nonetheless, here’s one of my other favourite parts:
“If it took one woman ten minutes to change a baby, how long would it take one man to change one baby? A lot longer than ten minutes, she imagined, because he would spend fifteen minutes looking around for a woman to pass the baby onto to be changed.”
And some runner ups:
“I think you’re right. I’ve been hoping that I’d discover that men were infinitely fascinating, but the truth is, they’re not.”
“We would become cosmic dust, it said. If that was our fate — and the astronomers seemed agreed on it — then did it make much sense for us to treat our brief moment too seriously? She sighed. She would like to be able to discuss this with somebody, but who was there?”
“Did people not think about what they did before they did it?”
“Boys did things like that, of course, because boys were… well, boys were a bit stupid. But some of the things they did were not so stupid and were exciting, and made her think that all the times boys were having more fun and laughing at girls because they could do all those things that girls were not allowed to do.”
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