Heavenly Date [Hardcover]

Alexander McCall Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

Alexander McCall Smith's profile could not be higher at the moment: the Today show has featured him live twice, and author Amy Tan selected The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency as her book of the month. This delightful collection of short stories teems with more of the vivid characters and exotic settings that have become McCall Smith's trademark. Among other places, we visit Portugal, Australia, and, of course, the southern Africa McCall Smith's many fans know so well. Organized around the theme of the romantic encounter in all its varied forms, these hilarious stories are by turns surprising, enthralling, heartwarming, and, sometimes, just plain disastrous — but always universally recognizable. Full of the same irresistible imagination and delicious insight into the fascinating peculiarities of the human condition that have endeared The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency to thousands of readers, Heavenly Date is the perfect read for McCall Smith's rapidly growing audience.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Smith, author of the bestselling The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and some 50 other books, nimbly examines the mysteries of dating in this captivating collection. The stories, which take place in various locales-Africa, Australia, Italy-and in periods from the 1950s and '60s to today, explore the timeless, intricate dance of love and courtship, and make wise, often compassionate observations. In the lovely title story, a young woman summering in Tuscany has an assignation with an angel ("It may be unusual in other places, but here, there seemed nothing extraordinary about it") and finds herself pregnant with a miraculous child. In the arch "Intimate Accounts," the protagonist, a jaded psychiatrist, noting that "terrible things can happen on dates-traumatic things-which can trouble people to the very depths of their psyches," helps a narcissistic patient discover that his best date might be with himself. Two members of a "dating [service] for fatties" share a comic dinner in "Fat Date"; two wealthy Swiss singles make friends with the younger generation and learn the joys of sharing in "Wonderful Date," while in "Maternal Influence," a young man mollycoddled and emasculated by his mother, "the Mayoress," finally takes a stand when he meets a girl he likes. Smith's nine stories, with their light humor and touching moments, should inspire smiles and sighs in tenderhearted readers everywhere.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Smith departs from his successful mystery series (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency , et al.) with a collection of offbeat stories about dating and love. The author's fondness for globetrotting settings is once again in evidence, with the tales taking place in various European countries, Australia, and, of course, southern Africa (the mysteries are set in Botswana). Some of the stories are curiously peculiar (in "Nice Little Date," a rock star, intending to seduce a teenage girl, finds instead she's a boy); some are darkly funny (in "Far North," a date goes so awry that the guy's death is a relief, even it means the woman goes to jail); but all of them remind us of why dating is such a precarious endeavor. Smith's characters possess the quirkiness of Hiaasen creations; just imagine them on an episode of Blind Date . For love stories without the sap, you can't go wrong here. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Books; First Edition edition (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841954667
• ISBN-13: 978-1841954660
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,706,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alexander McCall Smith was born in what is now Zimbabwe and taught law at the University of Botswana. He is now Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He has written more than fifty books, including a number of specialist titles, but is best known for The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has achieved bestseller status on four continents. In 2004 he was awarded British Book Awards Author of the Year and Booksellers Association Author of the Year. He lives in Scotland, where in his spare time he is a bassoonist in the RTO (Really Terrible Orchestra).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stands On Its Own, March 5, 2004

By 

Jill S. Jones (Tulsa, OK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heavenly Date (Hardcover)

Unfortunately most other reviewers here were looking for a continuation of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series when selecting Heavenly Date. I am also a fan of the Botswana detective books, but I believe it is important to review this book based on its own merit. The stories are engaging and the characters are well distinguished from one story to the next. Each story gives a concise insight into impulses and oddities found in relationships and personal interactions. It is offbeat, the locations are varied, and the stories range from humorous to slightly bizarre. I found this to be an extremely entertaining book for light reading. So, if you enjoy this author's ability to explore a broad range of subjects as well as his insights into people and relationships between them, give the book a chance. If you are looking more about Precious Ramotswe, wait for the next book in the series.

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Day Immaculate Conception, November 16, 2003

By 

Jon Linden (Warren, N.J. United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Heavenly Date (Hardcover)

Alexander McCall Smith is recently best known for his "Ladies No. 1 Detective Series" which takes place in Botswana. And true to those roots, his showcase story, "Bulawayo" does take place in Botswana, but since it is set in 1951, he uses the old name, Rhodesia.

This book is truly masterfully crafted. Smith describes 9 'dates' that men and woman have, and mostly, the problems they encounter in the dating. Only 2 of his stories end 'happily' if you will. The others are virtual disasters. But the beauty of the construction of the book is how the complexity of the dating gets more complicated and the story Smith tells about each has a somewhat different character, although a certain dryness of style that Smith uses is unmistakably done intentionally.

Smith's wonderfully "Freudian" story "Intimate Accounts" is just like reading out of "The Psychopathology of Everyday Life" by Freud himself. And in his final date,"A Heavenly Date" he describes what seems to be, a modern day story of an immaculate conception. Yet there are other explanations, as there are for the Biblical event, the feeling of ethereality is truly entrancing.

The book shows the great talent that Smith possesses for understanding and communicating the thoughts and actions of people. And once again, shows that no matter what culture you are in, the human problems are always much the same, whether they are spoken in English, French, German or Setswana, they are still the same types of problems.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A different kind of book, November 16, 2005

By 

Carolyn Rowe Hill "author of 'The Dead Angel" (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heavenly Date and Other Flirtations (Paperback)

If you're an Alexander McCall Smith fan, you will enjoy this book because no one writes quite like he does. His prose is easy to follow, understandable and fluid. His insights are profound and his storytelling techniques unsurpassed. However, if you think this book is a collection of romantic tales, you will be very disappointed. The stories in this book are on the strange side, some bizarre and dark.

There are nine stories:

Wonderful Date is about a German gentleman of means, Herr Brugli, and his equally financially endowed lady friend, Madame Verloren van Thermaat. The story surrounds events that take place on one of their afternoon dates.

Nice Little Date could've been left out of the book for my money. You can decide for yourself.

Bulawayo is the longest of the stories (about 60 pages) and takes place in Rhodesia. It's the story of a shy young girl who marries an emotionally damaged young man and what happens to them as a result.

Far North takes place in the Cairns area of Australian and is about a young woman who accepts a date with a young man named Bill Jameson. She doesn't know him personally, but is aware of him through work associations. Their date turns out, well, interesting. This one's a bit bizarre, but has its own kind of humor.

Intimate Accounts is just that. It's a psychiatrist telling tawdry tales about some of his patients.

Calwarra is about a young Alice, raised in rural Australia by her father after her mother dies shortly after she turns twelve. Alice turns out very well and, it seems, is artistically talented. A teacher in her school wants her to go to Paris to art school, but Daddy has other ideas. Enter young John Page, number three son of a neighboring farmer.

Fat Date is about the adventures (or misadventures) of two rotund people who are matched through a dating service for fat people.

Maternal Influence. If you have, know of, or can imagine a totally overbearing, self-indulgent mother, you can imagine what life is like for twenty-seven-year-old George who is still under her considerably powerful thumb.

Heavenly Date is a good story with which to end this collection. It certainly has its heavenly elements.

Carolyn Rowe Hill