The Girl Who Married a Lion is a collection of 33 tales from Zimbabwe and Botswana, gathered by Alexander McCall Smith.
In these stories, we meet a blind man who sees better than anyone, children made of wax, a bird that gives sweet milk, an unknown animal and an aunt who does nothing but shout.
We find very brave young men and very beautiful young women, very wise chiefs and very selfish men.
We learn why elephants and hyenas live far from people and why baboons live in small groups.
But there is far more to it than that: these stories open a door onto an elusive and exotic world, a fascinating way of seeing things — a traditional African worldview in which the boundaries between the animal world and the human world are blurred.
We do not dominate nature; we belong to it.
With the humour and tenderness that characterise Alexander McCall Smith’s pen, all the magic and generosity of the African savannah return page after page.
“Suddenly, sadness lifts and one feels one’s heart overflow once more.”
A writer celebrated the world over for the adventures of Mma Precious Ramotswe, the first female detective of Botswana, Alexander McCall Smith has spent many years recounting the beauty and poetry of Southern Africa and its people.
