Afinal há outra Miss Precious

“Mma Ramotswe had a detective agency in Africa, at the foot of Kgale Hill. These were its assets: a tiny white van, two desks, two chairs, a telephone, and an old typewriter. Then there was a teapot, in which Mma Ramotswe – the only lady private detective in Botswana – brewed redbush tea. And three mugs – one for herself, one for her secretary, and one for the client. What else does a detective agency really need?”

“Some people think of God as a white man, which is an ideia which the missionaries brought with them all those years ago and which seems to have stuck in people’s mind. I do not think this is so, because there is no difference between white people and black men; we are all the same; we are just people. And God was here anyway, before the missionaries came. We called him by a different name, then, and he did not live over at the Jews’ place; he lived here in Africa, in the rocks, in the sky, in places where we knew he liked to be.”

“ ‘If more women were in power, they wouldn’t let wars break out,’ she said. ‘Women can’t be bothered with all this fighting. We see war for what it is – a matter of broken bodies and crying mothers.’
Dr. Maketsi thought for a moment. He was thinking of Mrs. Gandhi, who had a war, and Mrs. Golda Meir, who also had a war, and then there was…
‘Most of the time,’ he conceded. ‘Women are gentle most of the time, but they can be tough when they need to be.’ “
In “The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” de Alexander McCall Smith

Descobri este livro por acaso, mas quando reparei que a heroína era minha homónima (a senhora detective chama-se Precious Ramotswe), tive de o comprar.
A protagonista é uma espécie de Miss Marple africana, mas muito mais colorida, engraçada e dada a introspecção. O autor é especialista em direito médico e bioética, de origem escocesa, mas nascido em África.
O resultado? Uma colecção de livros extremamente interessante que começa com o livro de onde retirei os excertos, misturando temas policiais, considerações sobre o mundo, os homens e Deus, o quotidiano do Botswana e África em geral e situações que não lembram ao careca. Altamente recomendado.