The Pavilion in the Clouds by Alexander McCall Smith is a story about a family and their governess living out in Ceylon. The family are from Scotland but are raising their eight year old daughter on one of the tea plantations. One summer before Bella starts school a series of events unravel to put an end to their arrangements.
Bella likes her governess Miss White. Her governess is kind to her and patient and filled with knowledge that she shares with Bella. Miss White likes the family she works for. She is happy to live in the bungalow outside the house and to spend time with the family. Bella’s mother Virginia doesn’t ask Miss White to join her reading group. All the other wives gather and discuss books. But Miss White has not been asked. Miss White laughs a little too much in the evenings with Bella’s father Henry. Bella doesn’t like it.
The house has a beautiful pavilion with a view down the hill to the plantation. Many members of the household like to spend time there. One day an accident takes place and the railing gives way, Virginia falling off the edge and into some trees below. She is remarkably unhurt for the situation. But now the doubts start to creep in. Was her fall really an accident?
The genre of this novel is a little unclear to me. It wasn’t a tense thriller of who has or hasn’t done what. It was a slow burning intrigue of the quiet life of two women far from home living in a house with only one man and a child. All the moves by the adults are so small but so full of meaning. Bella picks up on so much and pushes a lot of the action.
This is the first book I’ve read by McCall Smith though they are a prolific writer and I’ve seen there work many times in bookshops and the library. For this I listened to an audiobook read by the actor David Rintoul. (Borrowed from my local library online.) It was read well and I enjoyed listening to it.
The ending lacked a little for me. I won’t spoil it for anyone wanting to read it but I didn’t feel the pay off of a resolution at the end of the book. There was a resolution but it wasn’t what I was expecting and made me wonder a little what I’d invested my time in the book for. It was a pleasant time spent reading it but it felt like something was missing. More of a climax would have helped rather than fizzling out. A bit too close to everything being happy and neatly tied up in the end for me. Not necessarily what the blurb suggests. But a pleasant easy read.
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