A very powerful theme in fiction is that of loss.

Talking about pumpkins doesn't make them grow.

It was the same with friendship. Disagreement between friends and spouses, too had to be carefully handled. If the time you spent with friends was consumed by disagreement, then there was no room for the essence of friendship, which was a sharing of the world. And that sharing involved seeing things the same way, or at least seeing things through the eyes of the friend.

I am often thanked by people for inventing the term traditionally built. The people who give me thanks for this are often traditionally built themselves.

But don't we often lie to people we love, or not tell them things, precisely because we love them?

It would be wonderful to have a guru; it would be like having a social worker or a personal trainer, not that people who had either of these necessarily appreciated the advice they received.

Simple questions--and simple answers--were what we needed in life. That was what Mma Ramotswe believed. Yes.