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The Pavilion in the Clouds

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The Pavilion in the Clouds

By: Alexander McCall Smith
Narrated by: David Rintoul
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About this listen

The Pavilion in the Clouds is a new stand-alone title from best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith.

It is 1938 and the final days of the British Empire. In a bungalow high up in the green hills above the plains of Ceylon, under a vast blue sky, live the Ferguson family - Bella, a precocious eight-year-old; her father, Henry - owner of Pitlochry, a tea plantation - and her mother, Virginia. The story centres around the Pavilion in the Clouds, set in the idyllic grounds carved out of the wilderness. But all is not as serene as it seems. Bella is suspicious of her governess Miss White's intentions. Her suspicion sparks off her mother's imagination, and after an unfortunate series of events, a confrontation is had with Miss White and a gunshot rings off around the hills.

Years later, Bella, now living back in Scotland at university in St Andrews, is faced once again with her past. Will she at last find out what happened between her father and Miss White? And will the guilt she has lived with all these years be reconciled by a long over-due apology?

©2021 Alexander McCall Smith (P)2021 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction
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What makes this book really enjoyable is the way it is narrated by David Rintool. He has the ability to get the best our of any author.

Lovely book that is difficult to put down

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Loved this book. I wish it was longer , I wanted to know more about the characters, it just finished too quickly.

Lovely gentle story

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David Rintoul brings Alexander McCall Smith's words to life. I loved being taken to the world of tea plantations to share the life of Bella as she grows up in Ceylon.

A beautiful storyline

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very happy with the narrator - no silly voices and the story was interesting. overall a good listen

very enjoyable

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Ambiguous events delicately, deliciously and sometimes baldly presented. Ceylon 1938 and Scotland around 1950. Are our 8 year old and adult heroines and the family father in domestic danget or has Po Chui mis seen? The events are real, but what explains them? Alexander McCall Smith's gift for gently comic suspense takes a new and delighful form. Expertly read by David Rintoul with a light burr of Scots as delicate as the prose, embodying almost imperceptibly the characters' distinct ways of thought and speech.

Intriguing, Charming

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