Now about the book:
The book follows life and journey of Mma Precious Ramotswe who is our main character. She is native of Botswana who wants to open a detective agency with the inheritence she has received from her father. Her main idea behind starting this detective agency is to help women in her area to find out about their cheating/missing husbands but as the story progesses you will find how Mma Ramotswe, as she is addressed in the book along with her assistant Mma Makutsi (Mma being the term they use in Botswana to address woman) ends up helping not just women but most of the people in and around. The city of Gaborone which is the capital city of Botswana where this detective agency is based is also described as a character along with Mma Ramotswe who is through and through patriot which she learnt from her father who previously worked in diamond mines under colonial rule.
Mma Ramotswe is someone who is strong, level headed ,opinionated and has strong sense of self, which is uncommon for a woman around her; as she has been born and brought up in a society which is strictly patriarchial. She is not your streotypical detective who is slick/smart/genius type, on the contrary she is someone who is not so extraoridinarily genius but uses her common sense, intuition and compassion to solve the cases. In the background you will also get to know her own story, of growing up in her village with a doting father, Obed Ramotswe who teaches her how to count her cattles and keeps telling her how she is smarter than most boys around, about her abusive husband whom she married against her father's wishes, a painful abortion and lastly being abandoned by her husband which eventually led her to decide to never marry again and how she ends up finding the companionship in kind and caring J.L.B Matekoni. Her journey from being ridiculed by everyone (mostly men) to being number one (and only one) female detective is heartwarming.
This book might not be the thriller that gives you adrenaline rush but nonetheless manages to keep you intrested and engaged throughout. The stories are simple, set in rural backdrop with the challenges faced by people as the basis of cases which the main character solves. The book is subtle in giving insights on friendships, love for your community, for your people and defying gender roles that are forced upon women and has many 'oh! that was touching' moments and that is it. Simplicity is why I will suggest you to go for this book.
That is all for now. I will leave this review with these two quotes by Precious Ramotswe which I liked among many others in the book!
'It is important to keep a sense of perspective'.
'When you are with somebody you love the smallest smallest things become important'.
Hope the review helped.
Until next one. Happy reading!
