At one reception I met a charming Spanish woman who revealed within 10 minutes that she was a "Young Global Leader", had a PhD in microbiology, had started up her own biotech company in the US and was on the verge of a major public health breakthrough.
Mary, a charming and gently-spoken woman who speaks English with the soft lilt of the native Gaelic-speaker - has a photograph of them all in Edinburgh: some haven't seen one another since.
The novels, which feature Precious Ramotswe, a "traditionally built" woman of unspecified age, are so charming and gentle it might be surprising to learn that many of the characters and places mentioned in them are drawn directly from real life.