La conducts and the orchestra swells and soars, but there is no actual music in the writing about music. This is, so far, all standard McCall Smith stuff - perhaps a little more grounded in history than the Ladies Detective series.įrustrating in the novel is its tendency to gloss over both relationship details and, sadly and ironically, details of the music that purportedly saves the world. Again thanks to her deceased philanderer, La has the capacity of material generosity, and she gives to her adopted community in very real ways. She takes up farm work in a rural community to help with England's WWII efforts, and soon meets a quirky and diverse cast of characters, whom she brings together in a community orchestra that gathers in a time outside of war-time, rehearses, and performs a victory concert when Germany surrenders. The La of the title (short for Lavender) is plucky, respectful and brave - also independently wealthy after the death of her philandering husband, and as it happens displaced from London. McCall Smith (of the Ladies Detective Agency fame) here offers a stand-alone volume about the cultural act of healing from war, the redemptive power of music, and the trials of patient love. This is a sweet novel, and a frustrating one.
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