44 Scotland Street [Audio Cassette]

Alexander McCall Smith (Author), Robert Ian MacKenzie (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2005

First published in 110 episodes in The Scotsman newspaper, 44 SCOTLAND STREET revolves around the comings and goings at No. 44 Scotland Street, a fictitious building in a real street in the author's home city of Edinburgh. One of Mc Call Smith's particular talents is his ability to portray archetypes without resorting to stereotype or cliche. We immediately recognise the Edinburgh chartered surveyor, stalwart of the Conservative Association, who dreams of membership of Scotland's most exclusive golf club. We have the pushy Stockbridge mother, and her prodigiously talented five-year-old son, who is making good progress with the saxophone and with his Italian. Then there is Domenica Macdonald who is that type of Edinburgh lady who sees herself as a citizen of a broader intellectual world. 44 SCOTLAND STREET is vintage Mc Call Smith, tackling issues of trust and honesty, snobbery and hypocrisy, love and loss, but all with great lightness of touch.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Like Smith's bestselling Botswana mysteries, this book—comprising 110 sections, originally serialized in the Scotsman, that drolly chronicle the lives of residents in an Edinburgh boarding house—is episodic, amusing and peopled with characters both endearing and benignly problematic. Pat, 21, is on her second "gap year" (her first yearlong break from her studies was such a flop she refuses to discuss it), employed at a minor art gallery and newly settled at the eponymous address, where she admires vain flatmate Bruce and befriends neighbor Domenica. A low-level mystery develops about a possibly valuable painting that Pat discovers, proceeds to lose and then finds in the unlikely possession of Ian Rankin, whose bestselling mysteries celebrate the dark side of Edinburgh just as Smith's explore the (mostly) sunny side. The possibility of romance, the ongoing ups and downs of the large, well-drawn cast of characters, the intricate plot and the way Smith nimbly jumps from situation to situation and POV to POV—he was charged, after all, with keeping his newspaper readers both momentarily satisfied and eager for the next installment—works beautifully in book form. No doubt Smith's fans will clamor for more about 44 Scotland Street, and given the author's celebrated productivity, he'll probably give them what they want. Agent, Robin Straus. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Inspired by Armistead Maupin’s serialized San Francisco-based Tales of the City, McCall Smith has successfully incorporated snippets of Bohemian Edinburgh life into 44 Scotland Street. He lends the same insights and sensibilities to these colorful vignettes as he does to his bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, set in Botswana: an understated intelligence, a deep human compassion, and lighthearted romance and mystery. Likeable and quirky characters, from a pushy mother and bookish neighbor to real-life walk-ons, populate the gentle satire. For those who don’t read The Scotsman, not to worry: there’s a second volume in the works.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Recorded Books (June 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419333828
• ISBN-13: 978-1419333828
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 4.3 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,093,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McCall Smith is a marvel!, March 11, 2006

By 

Carolyn Rowe Hill "author of 'The Dead Angel" (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 44 Scotland Street: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (1) (Paperback)

I believe I've become addicted to Alexander McCall Smith's writing! Everything I read by him, I thoroughly enjoy. This book is very different than The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie series, and the Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld series. Each has its own character, style and humor. This book is based on a daily newspaper serial, McCall Smith was asked to do after he brought up the subject in an article he wrote in the newspaper, The Herald, in Scotland. As usual, McCall Smith was up to the task and, I believe, is working on another serialized story that will eventually be put into book form.

This book is about the motley crew who inhabit an apartment building on the edge of the Bohemian part of Edinburgh's New Town, 44 Scotland Street. There's Pat, the newest tenant, and from whose point of view the story is told;. Bruce Anderson, the gadabout narcissist who is sure every woman in the world adores him; the Pollack family, little Bertie, age 5, his pushy mother, Irene, and his long-suffering father, Stuart. Then we have wise and free-spirited Domenica Macdonald, a woman in her sixties, and another man, Mr. Syme, who stays to himself and is rarely seen by the others.

Among the storylines are Pat's struggle with her growing attraction to flat mate Bruce, Bertie's acting out resulting from his growing resentment of his mother's efforts to make him grow up way before it's time; and Domenica and Pat's growing friendship. To support herself, Pat takes a job at an art gallery run by a mild-mannered, seemingly ineffectual, rich kid named Matthew, and a series of events unfold involving a painting. My favorite character turned out to be Bertie as he begins to rebel against the pressures brought to bear on him by his parents. The characters are a mix of personalities as one would expect, and the events portrayed are an equal mix of serious, kooky, and downright hilarious! I hope there will be more books about these characters.

Carolyn Rowe Hill

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars '44 Scotland Street' an extremely fun and entertaining place to go!, January 15, 2006

By 

Music and book lover (Western USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 44 Scotland Street: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (1) (Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed '44 Scotland Street' and couldn't put it down. Call it a guilty pleasure, or call it an absorbing glimpse into the lives of a variety of characters. It was like being a fly on the wall, watching Bruce preen in front of the bathroom mirror; I loved to loathe this guy, and how delicious to see him squirm through various situations. Yet even he was well-rounded enough to have some good in him, as you see him being kind to the boss's ugly duckling daughter. Many of these characters, Pat, Angus, Domenica and Matthew, felt like friends to me, probably because each segment was told from the point of view of it's character. Each chapter ended with a small cliffhanger that made you eager to continue to the next segment. If I had been reading this in the newspaper, as originally published, this would have tortured me! I really needed to read on for resolution. Finally, I really enjoyed seeing the little boy prodigy rebel against his horribly pushy mother and try to insist on living a normal life. Hooray for Bertie! And hooray for Alexander McCall Smith! I would rate this book right up there with the Mma Ramotswe books, and am hoping for a sequel soon.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A paean full of wry social commentary and endearing characters, June 24, 2005

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 44 Scotland Street: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (1) (Paperback)

44 SCOTLAND STREET first appeared in serialization ala Charles Dickens in 110 daily installments in The Scotsman newspaper. Not a book in the ordinary sense of the word, it also is not a mystery, which is what we have become accustomed to expect from Alexander McCall Smith, creator of Mma Ramotswe in THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY series. There is a wee puzzler involving a painting in the art gallery where our heroine, Pat, works. Is it or is it not an undiscovered painting by eighteenth century painter Samuel Peploe? And if it is, how should one go about retrieving it from a charity boutique where it mistakenly found its way through somewhat complicated means? This minor plot leads us to the cast of characters with whom Pat lives, works and socializes as she flies from the family nest to move into the titled address.

On the landing at 44 Scotland Street lives the widowed and widely traveled Domenica, who befriends Pat and fills her in on the rest of the residents: the stunningly handsome but callow Bruce, Pat's flat mate, who is convinced he is the world's most charming and desirable male, and the strange family largely run by the precocious five-year-old Bertie, whose mother is determined to turn him into a child prodigy.

With three successful mystery series under his belt, McCall Smith seems to draw from a bottomless well of quirky, wise and philosophical characters to delight his fans. He has charmed us with THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY series and its protagonist, Precious Ramotswe; confounded us with his redoubtable Professor Dr. Von Igelfeld in the PORTUGUESE IRREGULAR VERBS mysteries; and introduced us to the Scottish-American philosopher Isabel Dalhousie in THE SUNDAY PHILOSOPHY CLUB.

McCall Smith's love of place underlies his tales of mystery and moral dilemmas in each of his stories. A deep and abiding love of Africa and its culture bring to life not only the characters but also the unique problems of an emerging third world country, served in an appetizing dish of humor, wisdom and mystique. His adopted yet nearly native country of Scotland is equally treated to insights and purely Scottish ways in the other two series.

44 SCOTLAND STREET is a paean, with tongue in cheek to Edinburgh society --- high, middle and low. McCall Smith clearly loves the extraordinary city and its slightly stuffy denizens, but you don't need a guidebook or a Scotts burr to enjoy his wry social comments and endearing characters.

--- Reviewed by Roz Shea