Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010108629 | PR6063.C326 F67 2005 | Open Access Book | Creative Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000010108630 | PR6063.C326 F67 2005 | Open Access Book | Creative Book | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
Book 1 in the hugely popular 44 Scotland Street series by worldwide bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander McCall Smith's delightful Scotland Street occupies a busy, bohemian corner of Edinburgh's New Town, where the old bourgeoisie rubs shoulders with students, poets and eccentrics.
When Pat is accepted as a new tenant at number 44 Scotland Street, she isn't sure how long she'll last. Her flatmate Bruce, a rugby-playing chartered surveyor, is impossibly narcissistic, carelessly philandering and infuriatingly handsome. Downstairs lives pretentious Irene Pollock, whose five-year-old son is in therapy after setting fire to his father's copy of the Guardian . And watching over them all is shrewd, intellectual Domenica Macdonald, anthropologist and sharp-eyed observer of the household's activities...
PRAISE FOR THE 44 SCOTLAND STREET SERIES:
'Perfect escapist fiction' The Times
'Simple, elegantly written and gently insightful' Good Book Guide
'A joyous, charming portrait of city life and human foibles' Sunday Express
'Does for Edinburgh what Armistead Maupin did for San Francisco... A light-hearted, genial soap opera' Financial Times
Author Notes
Alexander McCall Smith was born on August 24, 1948 in Zimbabwe. He was a professor of medical law at the University of Edinburgh, but he left in 2005 to focus on his writing. He has written over 60 books, including specialist academic titles including Forensic Aspects of Sleep and The Criminal Law of Botswana, short story collections including Portuguese Irregular Verbs, and children's books including The Perfect Hamburger. He is best known for the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. He also writes the Corduroy Mansions, Isabel Dalhousie and 44 Scotland Street series.
He has received numerous awards, including The Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library Award and the 2004 United Kingdom's Author of the Year Award. His book, The Full Cupboard of Life, received the Saga Award for Wit in the United Kingdom. In 2007, he received a CBE for his services in literature.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews 1
Library Journal Review
ea. vol: unabridged. Recorded Bks. 2005. f What one finds at 44 Scotland Street is a rooming house and a microcosm of Edinburgh society. Twenty-year-old Pat rents a room from handsome but vain Bruce for her second "gap" year. Precocious Bertie, pushed to excel by his overbearing mother, and crusty widow Domenica McDonald lease other spaces. There is also Matthew, the son of the owner of the art gallery where Pat finds employment as a receptionist. When a piece of art gets misappropriated, author Ian Rankin becomes involved in the sleuthing. This is Smith's best since the "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series, and librarians will want to be sure to start their collection with the first title. Performer Robert Ian Mackenzie aptly portrays these Scots. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
