Anybody who has read previous books by McCall Smith wouldn't think this book would get much discussion at the book group.
Here are one set of comments from a reader who left the group some time ago but is now reading them alongside us:
DW: I was surprised when I read this book , I was expecting 'froth' but it was an in-depth and thought provoking book. I liked the character of Virginia as she had original idea's,not only about her situation but about education, her thoughts on the empire and people her husband employed on the tea plantion. If the other wives on the same situation thought about these things we don't know as they never discussed them, only frivolous gossip. Once when Virginia raised a controversial thought she was accused of having suffragette thoughts. Henry her husband was having an affair, not with miss white as she and her young daughter Bella thought, but with her best friend heather . Heather councelled Virginia on her marriage this led to heather manipulation the situation for her own benefit . The relationship with miss white the governess was a game of one up manship, perhaps she did it to make herself important as it appeared she had little future being plain, clever and older. The situation was that to be a governess, not a servant but not accepted in upper society. She felt superior because of Virginia's lack of formal education. As for Bella , Virginia's young daughter, a lonely little girl of 8 far wiser than her years , clever but susceptible to fanciful ideas. Her only friends were 'Li Po and Po-Chai dolls, who were essential to her and she used them for council. She kept them while at university and beyond. Hope this is ok, left out the broken barrier and snake episode red herring's,not really what the book was about.
Mark 6
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