Alexander McCall Smith’s short stories sit comfortably with those of the greatest writers of all time. Pianos and Flowers is a superb collection and a powerful gift from a writer working at the top of his game.
A few years ago, Alexander McCall Smith met the editor of The Sunday Times and agreed to write a series of short stories which would run in the paper. The Sunday Times opened up their archive of photographs and Alexander selected anonymous, black and white pictures, imagined the story behind the scenes depicted, and created delightfully playful stories to enchant the reader. These stories appeared in the paper but since then, Alexander has reshaped them, added new stories and they have now grown into a powerful, hugely entertaining collection of tales of love and romance.
When I was asked by the The Sunday Times to write a number of short stories for the newspaper, I suggested that I should select photographs from their extensive photographic archive, and create stories based on what I imagined the pictures depicted. Six of the stories were published in the paper – a few of them are included here, but the rest are new. We do not know, of course, who the people in these photographs were, nor what they were up to. They were almost certainly not doing what I say they are, but that is the joy of looking at photographs in this way: from the tiniest visual clue we can create a whole hinterland of experience – of love, of hope, of simply being human.
In Pianos and Flowers, Alexander McCall Smith invites us to glimpse a world long departed. These perfectly crafted stories, inspired by forgotten photographs from exotic and intriguing places, bring us the lives of the people in the frame – imagined and explored, layer by layer. We share the tale of three sisters in Penang, caught in the tide of war. In a Glasgow slum, we discover the contrasting destinies of a group of small boys. In the unlikely realm of Egyptian antiquities, we follow a young woman’s search for love. Through all these photographs and stories, there runs the same refrain: the possibilities of love, of friendship, of happiness.
And through all of these photographs, and all of these stories, there runs the same refrain: the possibilities of love, of friendship, of happiness lie before us.
Created by the author of The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, the stories in Pianos and Flowers are playful, emotional and ultimately uplifting.
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