Paperback: 245 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Polygon 2021
Source: Tywyn Library - Book Club Choice
First Sentence: This began in 1938, in what was then Ceylon, in a bungalow halfway up a hill.
Review Quote: 'The ever fecund Alexander McCall Smith continues to surprise as well as please... This is one of the most enjoyable of his many enjoyable novels'. Allan Massie ― The Scotsman
My Opinion: 'The Pavilion in the Clouds' is a stand alone novel from the prolific author Alexander McCall Smith. Most well known I believe for his series 'The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency' of which I have only ever read the first one back in 1998 when it was published. I doubt therefore that if this title had not been our Book Club Choice this month that I would have read it. The Sri Lankan (still Ceylon at the time)and St Andrews settings both appealed to me and the author creates the atmosphere of the locations perfectly.
The storyline hinges around three females, Bella Ferguson, Virginia Ferguson and Lavender White. Bella is the young daughter of the tea plantation owner, where the story is set, and his wife Virginia. The latter's strained relationship with Bella's governess Lavender causes tensions and misunderstandings between the three of them.
An easy gentle read about the dramatic tensions that rise and surround life in the colonies. Worth a read if you have an interest in this period.
Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:
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, nestled in 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 intuition sparks off her mother’s imagination, and, after an unfortunate series of events, a confrontation results in a gunshot ringing out through the valley.
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-overdue apology?
Author Profile
Alexander 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 Edinburgh Scotland, married to a doctor and has two daughters.
Photo and words courtesy of Amazon and Goodreads
Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:
Amazon Author Page. Authors Official Website - Biography. Facebook Profile
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