Date Published: 12th December 2022

December 2022

This year has been for so many of us an unusual one. The difficulties that the world have faced hardly need to be recited – and they have had an impact on the lives of us all. I count myself fortunate in having been able to continue working at what I am called to do, which is to write books. And so this year has seen various new titles in the different series, along with other offerings.

We returned to Botswana, and to the office of Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi. A Song of Comfortable Chairs is the twenty-third No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novel. In this book, Mma Ramotswe helps the business run by Mma Makutsi’s husband to deal with underhand competition, successfully, of course, because Mma Ramotswe usually succeeds in doing the things that she does. Next year will be the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first publication in the UK of this series, and we are hoping to mark it in a number of ways.

There was a new Isabel Dalhousie book, The Sweet Remnants of Summer, a theme of which is reconciliation between people separated from one another by different social and political beliefs. Some might see a need for that in our rather divided contemporary world! I particularly enjoy my time with Isabel, and relish getting my teeth into the moral dilemmas she encounters.

Then there was a new Scotland Street novel, The Enigma of Garlic. Bruce was struck by lightning in the previous volume; now we see some of the consequences. Big Lou marries, and Bertie and Ranald Braveheart Macpherson contend with the baneful influence of Olive and Pansy. Irene threatens to return from Aberdeen: will this happen or will it not? Will it be a good thing or a bad thing? Can Irene change?

The Exquisite Art of Getting Even, was also published this year. This is a collection of revenge stories that I very much enjoyed writing, although I am at pains to point out that one has to be very careful about taking revenge.  A similar volume, The Private Life of Spies is scheduled for publication next spring.

I returned to touring with the books. I did several UK tours and also went to Sweden, the United States and Canada. Recently I took part in the literary festival at sea organised by the Cheltenham Literary Festival and The Sunday Times on board the liner, the QM2, as it crossed the Atlantic from New York to Southampton. In the first part of this coming year, I shall be at the Emirates Airline Literary Festival in Dubai and, later on, I shall do an Australian tour.

 

Christmas will be a quiet affair – I hope – and New Year will be spent with family.

 

Here is a short poem that I have written to mark the end of this rather strange year:

 

There are years for which we secretly wish

An accelerated end; twelve months

Of an unexceptional year is about right,

Winter providing a recognisable book-end

For the year’s beginning and its finale;

But when things go wrong, as they have done

In the recent unfortunate past, discreetly

We watch the calendar, ticking off the days,

Counting how many nights remain

Until we light the fireworks on New Year’s Eve.

That is understandable enough, I think,

But we should hesitate to send to the corner

A whole year, on the grounds of its bad behaviour;

There have been good things, too, instances

Of kindness, unsung, of progress made

In dealing with at least some of the issues.

That have bedevilled us; children have been born,

Lovers have found one another, happiness

Has broken out here and there, unexpected

But still as luminous as happiness always is;

Remember these, wrap them in the tissue paper

Of fond memory, and forget the rest.

 

With all best wishes for a peaceful Christmas and a good New Year,

 

Alexander McCall Smith