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Mma Ramotswe’s husband is Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, the owner of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors and the finest mechanic in all Botswana. He is a good man, but he has certain minor failings, one of which is indecision. It took him a very long time to get round to marrying Mma Ramotswe. Indeed, it was not until the fifth book that this happened, and prior to that I had received many letters from readers inquiring as to why the engagement was proving to be such a long one. But they did eventually get married, in a ceremony performed at the Orphan Farm, with the children singing the hymns and the women ululating with pleasure.

The newly married couple moved into Mma Ramotswe’s house on Zebra Drive. They are extremely happy: Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni running his garage and she helping people to solve what she calls “the problems in their lives.” These are often minor personal issues, although every so often something more serious crops up. Mma Ramotswe does not deal with significant crime, however; she is concerned with minor instances of bad behavior, and she usually deals with the offender by getting him or her to promise to behave better in future.

Is life really like that? Do people turn over new leaves and reform simply because they have been shamed into doing so by a woman like Mma Ramotswe? Probably not. One has to be realistic about human nature, which is often quite perverse. At the same time, Mma Ramotswe understands that you do not get people to be better people simply by punishing them. Those to whom evil is done do evil in return. W. H. Auden knew that and expressed the thought rather effectively in one of his poems.

Mma Ramotswe believes in forgiveness. “I am a forgiving lady,” she says in one of the books. Again, she is very wise. Forgiveness is a great virtue, which unfortunately we may sometimes lose sight of when retribution holds center stage. But we really should be readier to forgive people than to hate them or seek to harm them. Forgiveness allows us to look to the future rather than concentrate on the past. Forgiveness heals.

One of Mma Ramotswe’s great heroes is Nelson Mandela. Mandela, perhaps more than any other figure in the twentieth century, showed us all how forgiveness can bring an unhappy chapter to an end. Mma Ramotswe understands that. So we should not be surprised when she lets people off. That does not mean that she condones what they have done or underestimates its impact. It is just that she sees the sterility of pure retribution. She does not believe that we are helped by inflicting further suffering where there has already been significant pain and distress. I think she is right.

Is she a paragon of virtue, some sort of saint? Certainly not. Mma Ramotswe is very human and has her weaknesses. This humanity, I think, is why people respond warmly to her. They see that she, like the rest of us, has those temptations that she finds very difficult to resist.

One of these is cake. She very much enjoys the fruit cake served by the matron of the Orphan Farm, Mma Silvia Potokwani. And as a result of this sort of enthusiasm, she is what she calls traditionally built. This means that she is pretty fat, but she believes that a better way of describing it is traditionally built.

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.

Mma Ramotswe has never been out of Botswana, other than to make a couple of very short trips into South Africa, next door. She has never seen the sea, which she sometimes dreams of seeing. She likes to imagine the sound the sea would make, which she believes is like the sound of wind in the leaves of eucalyptus trees.

In spite of never having traveled, she has a profound understanding of human nature. She knows all about the weaknesses of men, but she does not condemn men for them. She understands how hard it is to be a man. She disapproves of boastful talk. She is modest. She is generous. She has a very soft heart for those who are heavily burdened.

In one of the books she goes to Mokolodi, a small game reserve near Gaborone. There she sees two American women sitting together. She realizes that one of them looks very emaciated-she is obviously ill. Her friend confirms this. They are doing a final journey together. Mma Ramotswe embraces the sick woman and comforts her. Then she says good-bye to her in Setswana, because that is the language that her heart speaks. She turns away and weeps.

Mma Ramotswe would have time for all of us. She would comfort any of us in our sorrow.

It is apparent to anybody reading these books that I have affection for Botswana. That is true. I admire the country greatly. I admire the many fine values that one can find in so many people in that part of the world, and also in other countries in Africa. People must not think that Africa is a disaster, that it is a broken continent. It is not. There is still a great deal to be admired and cherished there.

Some people have described these books as a love letter to a country. Yes, they are. They do amount to a love letter, and it is a love letter to which I am proud to sign my name.