Precious and Grace

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Mma Ramotswe dispenses help and sympathy with the graciousness and warmth for which she is so well known, and everyone involved is led to surprising insights into the healing power of compassion, forgiveness, and new beginnings. His works have been translated into more than forty languages and have been best sellers throughout the world…. More about Alexander McCall Smith. Praise for Precious and Grace and the No. But what about comfort books? Alexander McCall Smith serves up a perfect example in Precious and Grace , the latest in his heartwarming series featuring Precious Ramotswe, founder and owner of the No.

Or as wise lessons in humility, tolerance, and forgiveness. Or—and this is the course I recommend—as both. Endearing, amusing, and speckled with truths. Precious and Grace No. About Precious and Grace Fans around the world adore the bestselling No. Also by Alexander McCall Smith. See all books by Alexander McCall Smith. Inspired by Your Browsing History. Praise Praise for Precious and Grace and the No. Looking for More Great Reads? Ili Pika I'm also finding Mma Makutsi increasingly irritating. And I agree with others here who have suggested that she provides contrast to Mma Ramotswe's …more I'm also finding Mma Makutsi increasingly irritating.

And I agree with others here who have suggested that she provides contrast to Mma Ramotswe's kindness. The two are the perfect example of "confidence is quiet and insecurity is loud. She has found so much good fortune with her new husband and baby, and certainly has moved up in the agency, even if it has been mainly self promotion. But she still has not, within herself, recognized her own worth and so continues to push for ever greater accolades and "respect" from others.

True self esteem is always an inside job. I hope that in a future book she can finally come to appreciate herself. Even Charlie seems to be maturing faster than she is. See 1 question about Precious and Grace…. Lists with This Book. I love spending my reading time with Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi, both of them delightful, intelligent women who are very faithful to their much loved home of Botswana.

In this, the 17th episode of the series, our two redoubtable main characters come as close as they ever have to a major falling out. They deal with several cases involving pyramid selling, drug smuggling, lost dogs and a lost past and of course everything works out in the end although not always to their total satisfactio I love spending my reading time with Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi, both of them delightful, intelligent women who are very faithful to their much loved home of Botswana. They deal with several cases involving pyramid selling, drug smuggling, lost dogs and a lost past and of course everything works out in the end although not always to their total satisfaction.

Beautifully written, entertaining and full of Mma Ramotswe's philosophies on life, love and humanity. Of course I loved it! View all 9 comments. Nov 22, David Stone rated it it was amazing. I make an appearance in the very first chapter of Precious and Grace because, let's face it, there's nothing very precious or graceful about those two! It's Violet Sephotho people want to read about!

You see, I have become a big time business consultant on TV and radio, leaving certain people and their No. I don't ramble on about the price of cattle or tell boring old stories about Bobonong.

To succeed in Botswana today a woman has to be ruthless and flashy, with a modern build. I get right to the point, and if I don't like you--you're fired! I have to warm you that as usual there are a lot of mysteries to be solved before you get to the exciting Violet stuff. But I learned a few good ideas here from Mr.

Poloptese about how to attract investment. And just when you're about to nod off a puff adder strikes and gets your hopes up! I skipped the parts about that dog Zebra. Dogs always seem to growl at me. Of course, I give the inside of this book five stars even though the title should really be Violet and More Violet. And please don't forget to vote for the most important election of our lifetime, Botswana's Woman of the Year.

I have a feeling that this year of all years is my time to get 98 percent of the vote and to put a certain lady with large eyeglasses in her place!

KIRKUS REVIEW

View all 6 comments. I was so disappointed when I finished this book. It wasn't disappointment in the book but the fact that it was over. I miss the characters already. I think I would rather spend time with Precious than anyone else. She is truly happy in her life and feels blessed every day. I would just love it if she dropped over for some read bush tea.

It would make my day. This one is about a young woman from Canada who comes back to Botswana where she grew up. There's a stray dog and a powerful theme of forg I was so disappointed when I finished this book. There's a stray dog and a powerful theme of forgiveness but the story really doesn't matter. It's the feeling you have when it's over like sitting in front of a roaring fire, drinking hot chocolate and feeling so happy to be alive.

I love this book and series. View all 5 comments. Mar 05, Barbara rated it liked it Shelves: In this 17th book in the 'No. The book can be read as a standalone but it's more fun to follow the characters' arcs through the series. Susan is nostalgic for her early life in the beautiful African country and - producing an old photo - asks Mma Ramotswe to find her child In this 17th book in the 'No.

Susan is nostalgic for her early life in the beautiful African country and - producing an old photo - asks Mma Ramotswe to find her childhood home and former nanny, called Rosie. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi put a piece in the newspaper asking Rosie to come forward and of course several candidates quickly show up. Mma Makutsi - acerbic and skeptical as always - thinks they're all phonies but Mma Ramotswe believes one woman might be the real deal. Inquiries, a house visit, and many cups of tea eventually help resolve the situation - which is a little different than it first appears.

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Polopetsi, a chemistry teacher and part-time detective for the agency, has inadvertently involved himself in a Ponzi scheme. Polopetsi with the truth, he's crushed.

But Mma Ramotswe tries to make things right - and keep Mr. Polopetsi out of prison. Mma Ramotswe has one additional concern. Fanwell, who works as a mechanic for Mr. JLB Matekoni, has been adopted by a stray dog. The pooch, named 'Zebra' by Mma Ramotswe's foster children, needs a permanent home Mma Ramotswe attempts to work it out.

As usual with this series, Mma Ramotswe uses her intelligence, insight, and compassion to solve problems and Mma Makutsi acts as kind of a Greek chorus - voicing her own quirky views. Some occurrences in the story lead Mma Ramotswe to ponder forgiveness However, when Mma Ramotswe avers she'd let criminals off with a warning, I'm taken aback. Perhaps Mma Ramotswe doesn't believe Botswana harbors murderers, rapists, or the like.

This story isn't as humorous as some other entries in the series but one 'problem' did make me laugh. This leaves Mma Ramotswe with a dilemma. Can she still ask Mma Makutsi to take dictation, make phone calls, type letters, and so on? Mma Ramotswe frets about this continually, but the issue remains unresolved. I'm curious to see how it plays out. The stories in Alexander McCall Smith's series' are always enjoyable. This book is recommended to people who like cozies, especially fans of the No.

You can follow my reviews at http: Oct 28, L. Starks rated it it was amazing.

Precious and Grace

While the pace of this novel is languorous, its theme of forgiveness is one of the most deeply moving in the series. And any book with a stray dog is a sure winner. Precious and Grace is no exception to the meme. As always, Smith handles characterizations with beguiling economy--a lifted eyebrow here, an almost-suppressed thought there, yet the reader turns the page and much has happened. In particular, note how Precious understands, accommodates, and reacts to the Grace's occasional roughness.

A While the pace of this novel is languorous, its theme of forgiveness is one of the most deeply moving in the series. As always, the country, its airlines and hotels, should give Smith lifetime free passes--he writes so endearingly about its culture readers will want to catch the next plane to Botswana. Whenever I start one of these books, the sensation is reminiscent of easing myself into a warm and relaxing bath.

Life slows down and my mind turns to idly contemplating subjects as random as whether dogs have souls or the curative power of a cup of tea. The main storyline in Precious and Grace concerns a Canadian woman who spent some of her childhood in Botswana and This is the 17th installment in the long running series about Precious Ramotswe and her No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Botswana.

The main storyline in Precious and Grace concerns a Canadian woman who spent some of her childhood in Botswana and who comes to the agency hoping to make contact with people that she knew in her childhood. Mma Ramotse and Mma Matkutsi have a difference of opinion as to whether the person that they find is the woman's former nursemaid or an imposter. There are also secondary storylines about Mr Polopetsi becoming involved in a pyramid selling scheme and Fanwell from the garage finding a stray dog. In the last couple of books in this series I felt that the sub-plots had been tossed in almost as an afterthought, but this time they were all worked through well and tied back to the central theme.

I was genuinely unsure how the main storyline would resolve itself and interested in what was going to happen. It strikes me that this series is a kind of updated Aesop's fables, with gentle moral lessons integrated into the story in this case the focus is on forgiveness and on righting wrongs , but not in such a way that it becomes preachy - rather, it's a gentle approach that just makes you think.

Kind of like yoga for the soul. Oct 27, Diane Barnes rated it liked it. The 17th installment is much like the first sixteen, but this series still seems fresh to me. Not much to the mystery, as always, but I read them for the ongoing stories of Mma Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi, their families and co-workers, and the people of Botswana. View all 4 comments.

Jun 08, Laura rated it really liked it Shelves: Alexander McCall Smith wrote them for me. It is the characters, more than anything else, that make this so special. Getting to know them, and the wonderful culture and beauty that is Botswana, through the sensitive writing of the author, is a real treat, and a cure for what ails you, what ails all of us, what ails the world, even. May your stories never end! These books are medicine, particularly for the sensitive, introspective soul. If what you really want is for everyone to be kind and love one another, and you want to spend time in the company of characters who do just that, without being cardboard cutouts or predictable, read this series.

In this world, we need x more people like author Alexander McCall Smith, Mma Ramotswe, and all of these characters. Very sad to have read all of the books currently published in this series, although I know more are on the way. I plan to go all the way back to the first book and reread this series for more soul medicine this summer. The audiobooks, which are all narrated by Lisette Lecat, are all six stars.

You can't go wrong reading or listening to these books. Can't recommend them highly enough. I'll close with a quote: There were those who prospered, and those who did not. There were those for whom life was easy, not a struggle at all, and those to whom daily existence was painful and humiliating. That was the pain of the world, and it was all around us, washing at the shores of whatever refuges we created for ourselves.

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She thought of Fanwell, a young man who had very little in this life, and of his dog, who had even less. She could turn away and say that they had nothing to do with her, or she could accept that they had somehow touched her skirt. For that was how she viewed it: Thank you, AMS, for your good work. Precious and Grace is the seventeenth full length novel in the popular No.

This is indeed so when a client who has travelled from Canada presents with a somew Precious and Grace is the seventeenth full length novel in the popular No. This is indeed so when a client who has travelled from Canada presents with a somewhat unusual request: Precious and Grace agree to approach the case from quite different angles. Both get results, and both are surprised. As always, Mma Ramotswe muses on the problems and challenges of life, making wise observations and comments to those near and dear. She philosophises about people we know: Another delightful dose of Bostwana.

Precious thoughts on the past: But the past was not bad; some of it may have been less than perfect — there had been cruelties then that we had done well to get rid of — but there had also been plenty of good things. Aug 11, Sep rated it it was amazing. A lost dog, Mr.

Polopetsi caught in a pyramid scheme, and a Canadian woman trying to recover a lost childhood but these are just the problems. The real theme is forgiveness, kindness, and contentment. Dec 01, Una Tiers rated it it was amazing. It's nice to sit under a tree and drink tea with this pair of ladies. This is my comfort read series. Mma Precious Ramotswy and Mma. Grace Makutsi and their underlings act as quick pick me up whenever I find life tough or depressing. Have read the initial few books in the series in order.. And I love reading paperbacks.

The cover art is beautiful, and intermittently j would stop reading to 17th book in the series of No. The cover art is beautiful, and intermittently j would stop reading to gaze at it. In this instalment, a Canadian lady approaches the agency to find the whereabouts of her childhood Nanny. In 30 years, everything has changed and Botswana has become modern. Precious and Grace set about the task. Rather than the main story I love the various parallel incidents in their lives which are anything from hilarious to moving.

I also like the small doses of wit, wisdom and moral education imparted in a simple language by Mma Ramotse. But all the embellishments make me give 2 more.. And of course my partiality has a role to play. In this, the 17th book in a series that began with The No. Polopetsi, high-school chemistry teacher and part-time employee at t In this, the 17th book in a series that began with The No.

Polopetsi, high-school chemistry teacher and part-time employee at the No. My sister-in-law and I impatiently await each new volume in this series, and Precious and Grace lived up to the anticipation. All the old favorites make an appearance: This feel good series is just too repetitious for me. The character development is such that I can understand the appeal to a majority female audience. I've read about half of them and I'm sure that's my quota completed now.

I take no sugar or artificial sweetener in coffee, tea or in detective series. In this one the dog story was more resolved and for me more interesting. Most of the investigation is more about prime character interaction and conversation than it is about centering any plot. B This feel good series is just too repetitious for me.

But that's what the audience seems to like most. To me most endings aren't. And some are outlandish to just not believable or approaching real world cause and effect. This was one of those. Disappointed I have been with this series from the very beginning and it has always been a go to series when I needed something that would make the world seem to be a better place.

I didn't have that feeling when I finished "Precious and Grace. Alexander McCall Smith writes so many series that he is entitled to not be up to par all the time. The 1 Ladies Detective Agency has been a long series so it is entitled to have one book not be as good as all the others. The case they were working on for a woman who was from Canada but was born in Botswana and had spent her early childhood in Gaborone, didn't make a lot of sense. In fact it seems as if most of the cases worked on were on the negative side with pat solutions. Mma Ramotswe was even not quite sure what to do about Mma Makutsi's superior attitude.

Mma Makutsi seems to have conveniently forgotten that Precious Ramotswe had founded the agency.

There seemed to be more tension than usual between the two. There is a more recent book in this series that I will need to read sometime before deciding if maybe this series has deteriorated. This is the first book in the long series that I have not been pleased with so I certainly wouldn't write off these books yet. This audio version is narrated by the wonderfully listenable Adjoa Andoh. This is i Precious and Grace is the seventeenth full length novel in the popular No. This book meanders around a number of various unrelated problems for Precious Ramotswe. We have the return of some prior characters such a Ra Polopetsi who use to help out occasionally at the agency.

Mma Ramotswe thinks he has gotten himself involved in a pyramid investment scheme. A new character is introduced, he is Fanwell, an assistant mechanic at the Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. Fanwell ran over a dog and now it keeps coming back to the Speedy Motors. Grace is upset because her long time enemy Violet Sephotko was elected Woman of the Year. There is a case to work on from a Canadian woman who lived in Botswana as a child and wants them to find the house she lived in as a child and the nurse that took care of her. The book is well written and sprinkled with cliques and homespun wisdoms.

Precious does her philosophical musings over bush tea and they are delightful; such as do dogs have souls? Smith does provide some suspense and action such as the encounter with a snake. The story has two key messages one is friendship and the other is forgiveness. I always enjoy reading this series. It is like taking having a cup of tea with Precious, slowing down and remembering what is important in life. Lisette Lecat does an excellent job narrating the series.

I believe she makes the story come to life with the rhythm of her speech and the pronunciation of the African words. Lecat was born in South Africa. She is a stage actress and a voice over artist in three languages and is an award winning audiobook narrator. If it is October than that means a trip to Botswana to visit with my favorite literary character Precious Ramotswe and all of her friends and family. Also keeping Mma Ramotswe busy is a stray dog longing for the right home and Ra Polopetsi who has become entangled with the Bernie Madoff of Botswana.

With the aid of lots of Bush If it is October than that means a trip to Botswana to visit with my favorite literary character Precious Ramotswe and all of her friends and family. Each one gently imparts life lessons to the reader. The theme of this book is forgiveness.

A character is hurt very deeply in the past and Mma Ramotswe shows them how freeing forgiveness can be. Another gem of wisdom from this book was shown by way of the stray dog Zebra. Mma Ramotswe observed while watching her children lavish attention on the stray that children who show care to pets are learning to love.

Mma Raotswe also sagely points out that arguing takes away from tea drinking time and the less that is said the easier it is mended. Like Mma Ramotswe, I am also married to a mechanic and thus especially appreciate the character of Mr. Matekoni and his constant vexation with his customer's cars. Over the years I have grown extremely fond of these characters and always look forward to another visit with them in Africa.

All of AMS's books are like this and he has populated my world with delightful people for many years. Happy to spend some time with the completely lovely Precious Ramotswe. May we all be so generous of spirit as she.

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