Pianos and Flowers

De: Alexander McCall Smith

Narrado por: Robert Ian Mackenzie

In Pianos and Flowers we are invited, through the medium of sepia images, to glimpse a world long departed. In these stories, inspired by long-lost photographs, the lives of the people in the frame are imagined and then explored, layer by layer. What must have it like to be them? We hold our breath for them. Our heart beats faster for them. We look again at the photograph in a new light, and say Yes, it might have happened just like that.

This journey of exploration takes us to some exotic places. We share the lives of three sisters, brought up in Penang. We hear of what happened to them, and to their Chinese neighbours caught in the tides of war. We see a group of small boys in a Glasgow slum, their young lives stunted by poverty, and hear how life worked out in contrasting ways for them. We follow a young woman's search for love in the unlikely realm of Egyptian antiquities. 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.

There are big stories in these simple pictures. At first glance the photographs may seem unexceptional: the mere freezing of a moment in time. But delve deeper and you will realise that these photographs speak volumes.

©2021 Alexander McCall Smith (P)2021 Recorded Books

Loved the warm poignancy

The warm poignancy of these stories was lovely. My parents both survived harrowing experiences during WWII, and I appreciated the light shone on the people of this time.

Rather Depressing

I usually love Alexander McCall Smith books but I found this assortment of short stories to be rather
depressing, Some of them were a little disconnected . Not a lot of likeable characters either.
The best thing about it was the pleasing voice of the narrator Robert Ian Mackenzie.