Springcleaning – Book 2 “My Italian Bulldozer” by Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith is mostly known for his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books set in Botswana. I’ve read most of them and I have enjoyed them. He also has a few other series in progress which I didn’t find as good. My Italian Bulldozer is a stand-alone novel which was sent to me as part of a subscription I have with The Old Curiosity Bookshop near Loughborough (see here for their website) which involves them sending me five used books each month – I have found some great new reading this way. This book has been languishing on my to-be-read pile for longer than I can remember and in the time that it’s been there the author seems to have written a sequel which I might search out.

The hero of this book is Paul Stuart who writes travel and food books. He has just split up with his partner so he travels to Tuscany to finish his current project and escape his sadness. Through a set of totally unbelievable events he ends up driving from the airport at Pisa to the hilltop village in Tuscany in a bulldozer rather than a more usual hired car. There he relaxes, finds a new romantic interest, writes his book and becomes involved in the lives of the local inhabitants.

It has to be said that this book is slightly bonkers, but in a good way. The author obviously wants to share his love of the food and landscape of the area and these form a major part of the narrative. All the people that Paul meets are eccentric and his portrayal of rural Italian life is one of affection, which I am not completely sure is accurate but which is amusing to read.

This is one of those books which might be described as heart-warming or feel-good which means that it is very near the line of actually being sentimental and twee – I feel that the author avoids this nicely and I found this book entertaining and full of optimism for the human character.

My copy of this book is in excellent condition so I shall pass it on to the Oxfam Bookshop in Holmfirth (see here for details – it’s a great little shop). I hope that someone else will enjoy it as much as I did.