Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a lady called Lynne who lived in Devon. She loved books and when she found something she liked she wanted to share her joy with friends. There is a publishing house called Persephone, that many of you know about, and Persephone used to hold a weekend at Newnham College, Cambridge every September when the leaves were falling and the nights were beginning to get nippy, and this was a final fling before we all stayed indoors out of the cold.
Now, a certain blogger (mois), though this was in the days BBWEI (before blogs were ever invented), attended one of these weekends and there I met Lynne and several other kindred spirits with whom I have been friends ever since (went to Orlando at Covent Garden with another one last week). The Devonian one set up an on line reading group and we discussed various books we all loved and enjoyed and Dove Grey mentioned the No 1 Detective Agency books which were then just out and selling like, well, like Red Bush Tea really. For some reason, I had taken agin these books, don’t know why, can’t explain and said so. Well, DG was having none of that ‘Elaine you HAVE to read them’ I waffled about a bit and generally behaved in a spineless manner and thought if I avoided the topic long enough then she might go away and leave me alone.
Who am I kidding?
The second Newnham weekend came along and several of us arranged to go and meet up which we did. On arrival I was met with the unnerving sight of Dove Grey On A Mission clutching a brown paper bag in which she had placed her precious copy of The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency (taken from a box set pictured on the left, lovely edition) and which she thrust upon me. ‘Elaine I said I would bring it and now you must read it’
I fought a rearguard action, got all huffy and had a bijou hissy fit as I don’t like being pressurised into reading something I just know I AM NOT GOING TO LIKE (I hope you are all laughing merrily by now) and put it on the table in my nun like room hoping I might be able to slip it back into DG’s bag without her looking before the weekend was over.
I have to tell you now that about five of us went into Cambridge and attacked the bookshops that weekend (if I remember rightly we bought about 35 books between us on that trip) and Dove Grey hit the jackpot. Outside a bookshop was a box of books in a heap and she shrieked at me ELAINE COME HERE – the entire box was full of Elizabeth von Arnims all priced at 50p including The Benefactress which I had been hunting down for yonks. I fell upon them with screams of delight and immediately made everyone buy the ones I didn’t want (even if they didn’t want them I was not going to leave them there…) and generally made a fool of myself.
Well, what could I do after that little coup as a thank you to DG for spotting this magnificent treasure trove which I had not even looked at? Read No I Ladies Detective Agency that’s what, without moaning, without hesitation and just get on with it.
So I did and the rest is history. And though I have written about this in a light hearted way which I hope amuses you (we had such fun and there is another tale to tell about that day in Cambridge as well) I was, and am, hugely grateful to Lynne for introducing me to not only Precious Ramotswe, but to many other reading delights that I would never have looked at.
Of course, she has also made me spend far too much money on books I would normally never look at and I hold her personally responsible for the fact that I am staggering into a poverty stricken old age…..
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