I am a huge fan of the light, but insightful, fiction of Alexander McCall Smith
and this book too does not disappoint. However, I think you need to be a real fan to love
this collection of stories.

This collection of short stories by the author of the popular No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is based on six stories that he did for The Sunday Times newspaper. Smith selected photographs from the paper’s archives and wrote a story based around each photograph. Without knowing anything about the original subjects of the pictures, the writer used his imagination to create these charming vignettes, set variously in the countryside of Romania, a village in Greece, the London capital, and the towns and cities of Scotland. Each story is a slice of a certain place and time and features the author’s usual eccentric and charming characters. This is a book to dip into when you have a moment to do a bit of relaxed reading and imagining. The stories are great fun to read, full of McCall’s gentle and sardonic humor, and often end up going in a surprising direction. They certainly deliver an antidote to the turmoil and tension of our present situation in 2020.

Alexander McCall Smith is such a versatile author, you never know what to expect when you start reading a new book written by him.
Pianos and flowers is a collection of short stories that came to life using old and forgotten photos from the archives of the Sunday Times, as a source of inspiration. This idea is so brilliant and romantic, that I simply had to read the book straight away.
As in any collection of short stories, some are more engaging than others and, even though it may seem frustrating not to get to know the characters as well as we do in a novel, Alexander McCall Smith's style makes the reader think more about what's written on the page. It keeps him or her focused on the story, trying to get every single bit of it.
My personal favourites were Piano and Flowers, with its unusual - at least for me - setting, and Zeugma, where a librarian and a professor explore the meaning of zeugma during a bike ride.

ianos and Flowers is a book of short stories by the man who has brought so many excellent series, such as The No1 Ladies Detective Agency and many more.
Pianos and Flowers is an exquisitely written short story within itself that also has other short stories within. Each location is primarily in Scotland. Some settings are Glasgow, Dundee with other places mentioned such as Stirling, Broughty Ferry, Dunfermline, Perth, Aberdeen and more... There are also other locations too, such as Cambridge and more...
There are interesting photos throughout, which go well with each story. It's most definitely worth a read. I've written some short reviews of some of the stories.
All with many thanks to Knopf Double Day Publishing Group.

Full Review

The book starts with Piano and Flowers and an exquisite photograph of the characters that draws the eye in and along to some unusual topiary. The photograph becomes essential to the story. It's like when you're in an art gallery, looking at the beautiful paintings and photographs and working out what the artist is telling you or making up a story to fit what you observe.
I love the way Pianos and Flowers all unfolds. It's observant and thoughtful and takes readers from the garden in the photo to life further afield, the image in the photograph is central to the writing. At the end you are asked to actually look at the photo again. By this time you have names to the people within it and know about their lives. Readers will also learn about the piano and flowers and their significance.

I'd Cry Buckets has another photo of rolling Scottish hills and people with a pony. This time, it's written differently, more how people are used to reading a shory, perhaps, in its style, and yet the photograpgh depicts the landscape Bruce and David are in. What to do with life though? Go travelling or university? These are the decisions that have to be made and if it is uni, then which one? Oxford or St. Andrews? The story is thought-provoking with pangs of sadness and so desperately I find myself wanting it to work out for the pair. The writing is so evocative and is more than some coming-of-age stories. It goes further in telling more of their lives, beyond their youth.

Sphynx - At 26 years old, the daughter of a greengrocer at the Firth of Clyde. It's about from being around the Clyde shipyards and the Gorbals to moving around a bit to London to finding a chance of frendship. I like that she's a strong woman who tries to avoid self-pity as much as she can. It's a fascinating story of different lives and bits of society, as well as an interest in all things Egyptian.

Maternal Designs - Richard's father was a successful builder in Stirling and his mother, a daughter of a Dundee Jute Merchant were ambitious for him and wanted him to go to University - not just any one, but Cambridge. He himself isn't quite so ambitious. He becomes an architect and highlights the differences in how men and women view a home. It's also interesting how Stirling is viewed in this particular story and the ambition that ensues.

Anthropology is the main theme of The Dwarf Tale-Teller of the Romanian Rom and Dr. anthropologist, Edwina McLeod, wants to study headhunting and it isn't the sort of headhunting western countries would think. There are songs and rituals and rating history in villages within this, where she meets the Rom people, who are very particular, and a story-telling dwarf who readers can find out if actually is willing to impart in a traditional tale or not.

In Dotty, there are twins in Glasgow and that question if dressing them the same is what is wanted or stifling individuality and whether there really is "equal-ranking" among them.

Zeugma is interesting and says some truth about changing trends. There's an older librarian who complains about the clothing of one of the library patrons and a younger librarian who thinks he's rather stuffy. There is a day when the young librarian is offered a shared bike ride on the way to work by a distinguished professor, when most don't learn any junior's name. This one seems different. This is when readers can learn what Zeugma is, on this unexpected, interesting, scenic ride.

From Urchans in Scotland, with connections to many Scottish places, they became successful in various ways and there was one who chanced his luck and later became an actor.  It becomes an intriguing story as there's one who carries a box and it's written in a way that really, you do want to find out its contents. It has twists and turns that are unexpected as some are dark and yet full of intrigue from beginning to end.

St.John's Wort shows there is so much a person can worry about, even in the 60's from the paths countries have taken that lead to Communism. After all, Communism doesn't just happen. There's always a road as it were, that leads a country there, step by step, whether the people in that country realise its gradual process to it is happening or not. Finally, people were getting worried and Brian is perhaps more so than most, but also perhaps a bit more cautious than most and being a bit more depressed than most. It shows the "power" of St. John's Wort.

Blackmail is about having a job that is right at the bottom of the jobs pile, the bottom rung. It's also about a professional blackmailer lurking around.

La Plage is the final story takes place at the beach, complete with bathing machines. It has some humour, and apparently one of the character's mother's is actually right about something! It's a fascinating story with the perfect ending line to finish off this book of short stories.

I’ve always wanted to read a book by Alexander McCall Smith but never really got to it, until now. And I’m happy to say I found this collection an absolute joy! I admire his skills for being able to turn plain-looking photographs that were from the archives of the Sunday Times, black and white at that, into very believable, beautiful, charming stories.

As with many anthologies, some you’d enjoy more than the rest. In Pianos and Flowers, some of my favorites were:

The anthology starts with Pianos and Flowers and it is one of my favorites, for one obvious reason, my home country, Malaysia, was featured, even though only briefly. Set in the 1930s and 1940s, it centered around a family who spent part of their time in an island in Malaysia, called Penang, but later moved back to England, while the father stayed behind. We’d get a glimpse of the lives of Malaysians and Singaporeans too during the Japanese Occupation.
Sphinx was about Margaret, a 26-year-old woman whose new job in London led her to a meeting with a stranger sitting in a café. After coffee, he invited her for a stroll down to the river where he showed her the spot he frequented – the sculptures of the Sphinx which he loved. Somehow, she knew this man was the man she had been waiting for. After promising he’d write to her, they parted ways. She waited for his mail that never came. Will they ever meet again?

Iron Jelloids was like a beauty and the beast sort of love story, only the beast was a mild, mousey man whom people saw would never find a woman who would love him, until one day when he saved a woman’s life; all thanks to Iron Jelloids, an iron tonic he consumed.

Maternal Designs was about a mother whose son was an architect. The mother trying to give suggestions about his career choices and to talk him out to being a builder, a career he knew he’d love. Their argument back and forth was funny, entertaining and heartwarming. What was more, it had an unexpected ending!

In Zeugma, a professor gave a ride to one of his students, a beautiful Miss Thwaites, on his way to work, on his bicycle. They bonded over the English language, as he explained to her the meaning of zeugma. Their love for language hinted a possibility of a unique friendship ahead.

St John’s Wart was about a paranoid man who insisted that he and his wife moved to somewhere remote where it would be safer. The wife conveyed her worries about her husband to her neighbor, who suggested a solution which, much to the wife’s delight, worked.

Blackmail revolved around two street sweepers, one more senior in the job and age than the other. She informed him that her days weren’t spent just sweeping and cleaning the streets but also eavesdropping on conversations and people-watching, and one man who was a regular at a café, caught the newbie’s attention. A normal day at work, then led to quite an unexpected turn.

La Plage was a funny, amusing story about a woman just rattling off her thoughts to her husband, about her mother, her brother and his wife, then back again, without realizing he wasn’t really paying attention, and was lost in his own thoughts.

This is one of those collections where you’d want to read it over and over again, then look back at the pictures and try to figure out how Mr. Smith was able to create such brilliant stories. Overall, a fantastic collection of 15 short stories! Dive into them and take a short trip to London, Malaysia, China, even to Germany, spanning different centuries, with Mr. Smith during your quarantine. I think you’d have a blast!

I thought the idea for these stories, to take old and/or forgotten and random photos and make stories from them, was fascinating. I liked thinking that just looking at the image created the short story with it. But the first story was a bit rough, it felt like more a screen play than story. The second, and subsequent stories seemed like the author found their stride and explored romantic relationships, family and different time eras and dramas. It was fun to jump in and out of each one and to then be greeted with another photo and to wonder what it would be about. It's a good little mix of short stories and I enjoyed it.

So innovative and so charming -- I absolutely loved the way that Alexander McCall Smith peered inside the world of photographs to imagine the vivid lives and loves of the people pictured. A wonderful romantic, imaginative book!

My decision to read <b> Pianos and Flowers.    Brief Encounters of the Romantic Kind/b> by Alexander McCall Smith was motivated largely by curiosity about the author.   I most certainly have heard of him and his very successful No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series which so far as I can tell is up to book nineteen.    My theory was that this collection of short stories might give me a taste of his writing style and perhaps inspire me to embark on reading some of the many books accredited to him.   It turned out to be a good theory as this book showcased his versatility in creating an array of characters and putting his imagination to great use.

Each short story was inspired by a different photograph from the archives of the Sunday Times.   These were black and white photos of varying street scenes and though I spent time looking at each photo before starting the assocated story I never once went close to guessing the direction his story would take me.    I enjoyed the way he would pick up on some element from the photo and develop a whole backstory to go with it.  In a similar manner he would deduce the date of each photo then set the scene incorporating historical details and appropriate language.   At books end I revisited the photos and was easily able to relate them back to the corresponding story.      There were a few stories I enjoyed more than others and my favourite was Blackmail.   The associated photo was possibly the least appealing to me yet what he did with his story was very clever.     The gist of it was that a blackmailer copped a bit of his own medicine.    I wonder if this is the type of storyline he incldes in his popular series.     Perhaps one day soon I'll find out as I'd like to see what he does with jis full length novels.

I enjoyed this concept for a book of short stories and would like to see what he or other authors would come up with if given a set of contemporary photos to work with.   My thanks to the author, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity of reading this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

We've all played the game where you take a picture and build a story around the content, spinning them until they resemble a life well lived. But I have to say, Alexander McCall Smith does a much better job at it than anyone else I know. He has taken a moment caught in time with no idea of the actual story behind the shot and given we readers an imaginative journey full of details that will leave you smiling and saying....yes, I see it too.

This is an absolutely wonderful book to spend an afternoon or two with. The stories provide an escape into someone else's life that will leave you with a smile.

This is a collection of short stories by the author, who has a knack for making everyday come to life in a pleasant way. This collection includes stories that run the gamut of life's experiences, happiness, love, friendship, and the not-so-happy events in life. I enjoyed this, even though I don't usually care for short stories. As usual, the author has created interesting stories. I am grateful to Net Galley and the publisher for a free e-copy of Pianos and Flowers, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley.com for the ARC.

I have read many of Alexander McCall Smith's books in the past, especially the number one ladies detective agency series which I loved. I enjoyed this book immensely. A series of short stories based on old pictures where the people in the photos were unknown. The author is able to make the people in the photos seem real and create a whole narrative around them specific to the time and place. I am a big fan of old pictures and often wonder what the story behind them is so this was a perfect series of stories for me.

Collection of short stories based on photos with the author guessing what might be happening and who these people could be. I found it to be a very interesting concept and I loved the stories.

I love this book, particularly the idea of stories based on old photos. Oh, to have the author's imagination. I will never look at old photos in the same way again. It's so charming and fun to read.

I turned the pages of this book not knowing what to expect. Accustomed to the Number One Ladies Detective Agency series, this book is quite different to some of Alexander McCall Smith's previous novels. As an author he is very versatile and this book is testament to that. Each chapter is a short story based on an old photograph. The photographs are intriguing and their sepia images hint at a bygone world; the perfect springboard for spinning a short tale. I think it took me a little while to get used to these stories but Alexander McCall Smith writes well, capturing a fragment of our imagination from an image caught on camera. I particularly liked the story of the woman who finds herself leaving notes between the toes of a sculpture of the Sphinx in London, hopeful for her love interest to come by and notice them. Perhaps only a master of storytelling could conceive of such a story!

Pianos and Flowers: Brief Encounters of the Romantic Kind by Alexander McCall Smith is unlike any book of this author’s that I have ever read before, and I have read a lot of his books. He is a very talented writer, and this work was based on a clever premise, but I missed being able to delve into his characters as in his longer books. McCall Smith is so amazing at characterization in his longer novels, and this book contains a collection of short stories so that isn’t possible as much. We are invited, through the medium of antique black and white photographs, to glimpse the lives of the people in the photo which the author invents a short story about. What must it have it like to be them? Some are more interesting than others.

This journey of exploration takes us to some far flung places from Penang, China to Glasgow, Scotland, and some very different characters from architects to slum dwellers. The stories all have the same theme however: that love, friendship, and happiness can be found in these disparate lives.

My favorite story was one of the shortest, and exemplifies this theme. It is entitled Zeugma. What is that? Here are some quotes from the story that explain:

““It’s a zeugma,” said the Professor. “It’s a well-known figure of speech. The classic example is, She went straight home, in a flood of tears and a sedan chair. That’s Dickens, no less.”

“So that’s a zeugma?”

“Yes. It’s a figure of speech. It makes one want to smile.”

She could see that.

“Because,” the Professor continued, “there’s a contrast between the two elements in the sentence.” He paused. “Forgive me if I sound pedantic.”

She assured him that he did not. “I’m interested,” she said.

“The essence of a zeugma is the contrast between a literal expression and a metaphor. So in the example of the sedan chair, being in a sedan chair is not a metaphor, but being in a flood of tears is. We’re not talking about a real flood, are we? That’s a metaphor.”

“I see.”

...”The essence of a zeugma is the contrast between a literal expression and a metaphor. So in the example of the sedan chair, being in a sedan chair is not a metaphor, but being in a flood of tears is. We’re not talking about a real flood, are we? That’s a metaphor.”

This story is about a young librarian and an English professor by the way!

Another favorite entitled St.John’s Wort is about a wife whose husband is a worrier:

“JEAN DEARLY LOVED HER HUSBAND, Brian, but was distressed by his worrying. “I know it’s a good idea to be aware of risks,” she said. “I know that. And I would never court disaster, but there have to be limits, don’t there? You can’t wrap yourself in cotton wool your whole life, can you?”

“You can’t,” said her friend, Hen. “You’d never get out of the house if you started to worry about all the things that might happen to you. Might, mind you. A lot of the things that could happen never will happen because … well, because they are very unlikely to happen.”

“Exactly,” said Jean. “We could be hit by a meteorite at any moment, we’re told. There might be one coming towards us right now—even as we stand here and speak about it. You can’t see them during the day, you know. They could be coming right for you and you wouldn’t know.”

Hen looked up anxiously. “You mean, there’s no warning? They’re just there, flying towards us?”

Jean nodded. “That’s what happened to the dinosaurs, apparently. A very large meteorite hit the earth and sent us a giant cloud of dust. It blocked the warmth of the sun and the dinosaurs became extinct.”

Hen shuddered. “Heavens. And the same thing could happen to us?”

Jean nodded. “Yes, except it probably won’t—at least not while you and I are still alive, Hen. We’re unlikely to become extinct.”

“That’s a relief,” said Hen. She paused. “Is that what your man’s worried about? Becoming extinct?”

I think the title of the story might give you a glimpse into what happens in the story.

Thank you Pantheon and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book and for allowing me to review it. Publication date: July 28, 2020

I love all of his books - this book is no exception. Lovely stories - all of them. I actually love this author’s books on audio- gives a whole new dimension! Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

This is an inventive collection of short stories, based on old photographs. Some of the stories needed a bit more polishing and read like the first thoughts popping into the author's head. On the whole, however, these stories are pleasant and quick reads.

When the Sunday Times offered the bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith – of the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency fame – access to their early 20th Century photograph archive, the writer delightfully viewed this as an opportunity to come up with a collection of short stories. The outcome of this venture is “Pianos and Flowers: Brief Encounters of the Romantic Kind.” Based on random pictures selected from the Times archive as alluded to above, Mr. Smith conjures up fifteen short stories that are refreshing, romantic and crisp.

The collection begins with the story titled “Pianos and Flowers.” The picture on which this story is based has a couple purposefully striding past a stout topiary. Behind them is a group of individuals comprising of three women and a man who seem to be attentively scrutinizing the couple. Mr. Smith takes his readers on a nostalgic past that traverses across the lush bio diversity of the Malaysian, (or rather Malayan, since this story is set in the times of the British Raj and the Second World War) island of Penang and occupied Singapore before coming to an end in Britain. The lives of Annette, Flora, Stephanie and their solitary male sibling Thomas Sanderson revolves around viewing life from the spectrum of both tranquility and tension. Tragedy seamlessly intermingles with a sense of contentment and the ups and downs experienced by the family of a British Civil Servant, is captured with a poignance that is seamless.

“Maternal Designs” deals with the zealous, nay, overzealous optimism of the mother of a budding architect, which although induces a chuckle in the reader initially, leads her towards hear pulling frustration. A surge of sympathy swells in the heart of the reader for Richard, the patient architect.

Margaret, an enterprising and hard-working Scot gets a job as a secretary in London and this relocation brings her into unexpected contact with a young man of welcome looks and appreciable manners. He also harbours an irresistible inclination towards sculptures of the Sphinx. However, when he misplaces his notebook containing her address, the lady is distraught after not hearing from him. Losing all hopes of re-establishing contact, she attends a dance and meets a courteous bachelor named Alfred. Just when Alfred proposes to Margaret, she finds an advertisement in the newspaper regarding an exhibition revolving around the legend of the Sphinx…

“Pogo Sticks and Man with Bicycle”, has the pioneers of the DNA, Francis Crick and James Watson mesmerized by the contraption that is the Pogo stick. Unraveling the spring mechanism of the Pogo sticks results in the earth-shattering discovery of the Double Helix. This is one of my personal favourites in the book. The revelation at the end of the story hits the reader like a ton of bricks

“St John’s Wort” has a perennially worried husband managing whom is a real concern for his spouse. The worries ranging from the perplexing to the imagined reach their zenith when John F Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev eyeball each other over the Cuban Missile crisis. As an obstinate and overconfident Fidel Castro exacerbates the worry of the man of the house, his wife finds a friendly neighbor might just have the solution (no pun intended) that has the potential for permanently resolving issues.

Through fifteen sepia images that randomly depict a myriad set of emotions, Mr. Smith peels back layer after layer of imagined fantasies. Employing a breadth that is exemplary and a spontaneity that cannot be practiced, Mr. Smith provides unfettered delight to his readers with plots that are as ingenious as they are innovative. The one word that instantly comes to mind upon a reading of this beautiful bouquet of stories, is wistful. Many of the stories make the reader wonder ‘what could have been’ instead of what is.

“Zeugma” lays bare the uncongealed hurt contained within the heart of an accomplished and well-regarded grammarian Professor Mactaggart, who tries gamely to mask the pain within by taking refuge in metaphors and sanctuary in the intricacies of English language. When cycling on his way to the library he meets the attractive librarian, Ms. Thwaites, he experiences a sense of belonging. Is this the redemption the Professor has been looking for all along?

To paraphrase Robert Frank, “There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.” Mr. Smith embraces this philosophy to the hilt by suffusing humanity in fifteen random photographs. Hs effortless writing combined with a vintage spontaneity births a precious connection between the unknown and unnamed characters in the photograph and the reader. By the time the reader is done with the book, Richard, Margaret, Alfred, Mactaggart and the rest are transformed into friends, foes, heroes, villains, the wrongful and the wronged, the punished and the acquitted, the sufferer and the perpetrator. To produce this kind of an emotion from pictures warrants a degree of talent that is out of the ordinary – which is exactly what Mr. Alexander McCall Smith does.

(“Pianos and Flowers” is published by Pantheon Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York and will be published on the 19th of January 2021.)

“In the lives of most of us, the list of unsaid things was, he thought, a long one.” Pianos and Flowers, Brief Encounters of the Romantic Kind by Alexander McCall Smith

3.5 stars. A collection of short stories, romantic but not all love stories really, by this author who gave us the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels.

And what’s great about this collection is that the stories are written by the author, based on random photographs from the archives of The Sunday Times. Old photographs, when you look it.

It’s a great exercise for any writer really and the stories are interesting. I have a few favorites and none that I disliked. And all were quite nice and light to read. It makes me want to revisit the author’s works again.

Thank you Pantheon Books and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book. I really enjoyed it.

I'm not generally a fan of short stories but I was intrigued by the premise of taking an old photograph and building a story around it. This was in large part, I suspect, by having similar assignments when I was in high school - I found the results fascinating as my classmates and I wrote such different stories about the same picture. I was anxious to see what a professional writer did with the same "assignment" with the additional caveat that it was to be included in a volume described as 'brief encounters of the romantic kind'.

Overall, I would say slightly over half of the stories actually felt in any way 'romantic' to me, and some were simply not what I would have included in such a collection, including my favorite (Pogo Sticks and Man with Bicycle). I also enjoyed "I'd Cry Buckets" and "St. John's Wort". The others were just ok. I had read some of Alexander McCall Smith's novels and have enjoyed them. Based on this collection, I would say he's better suited to novels than short stories.