44 Scotland Street

Last updated

44 SCOTLAND STREET
AMS 44ScotlandStreet.jpg
First edition cover
Author Alexander McCall Smith
CountryScotland
LanguageEnglish
Genre Serial novel
Published2004-2005 ( The Scotsman ) (serial)
2005 (Polygon Books) (book form)
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback) & Serial
Pages368 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN 1-904598-16-1 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC 58973332
823/.914 22
LC Class PR6063.C326 A613 2005b
Followed by Espresso Tales  

44 Scotland Street is an episodic novel by Alexander McCall Smith, the author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency . The story was first published as a serial in The Scotsman , starting 26 January 2004, every weekday, for six months. The book retains the 100+ short chapters of the original. It was partially influenced by Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City , a famous serial story. It is the first book in a series of the same name. The series now has 15 books, as of 2021.

Contents

Plot introduction

The novel tells the story of Pat, a student during her second gap year and a source of some worry to her parents, who is accepted as a new tenant at 44 Scotland Street (a real street) in Edinburgh's very wealthy New Town (coordinates: 55°57′35″N3°11′42″W / 55.95962°N 3.19492°W / 55.95962; -3.19492 ), and her various roommates and neighbours. She falls in love with her narcissistic flatmate Bruce, meets the intriguing and opinionated anthropologist Domenica Macdonald and her friend Angus, and works at an art gallery for Matthew, who was given the gallery as a sinecure position by his wealthy father.

While working at the gallery Pat points out to Matthew (who knows almost nothing about art) that one of their paintings looks as if it could be a work of Samuel Peploe. After the gallery is broken into Matthew asks Pat to store the painting at their flat until they can check whether it's a genuine Peploe, but Bruce gives the painting to a raffle run by the South Edinburgh Conservative Association. Matthew and Pat eventually track it down to the (real-life) novelist Ian Rankin who gives it back to them.

The other major storyline is that of five-year-old Bertie, who is controlled by his pretentious and intellectual mother Irene - he has Grade Six on the saxophone, speaks fluent Italian, and is extremely knowledgeable about various subjects. After he is expelled from his nursery school, Irene sends him to psychotherapy with Dr Fairbairn, who constantly misinterprets Bertie's simple wish to be a normal five-year-old boy.

44 Scotland Street series

  1. 2005: 44 Scotland Street
  2. 2005: Espresso Tales
  3. 2006: Love Over Scotland
  4. 2007: The World According to Bertie
  5. 2008: The Unbearable Lightness of Scones
  6. 2010: The Importance of Being Seven
  7. 2011: Bertie Plays The Blues
  8. 2012: Sunshine on Scotland Street
  9. 2013: Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers
  10. 2015: The Revolving Door of Life
  11. 2016: The Bertie Project [1]
  12. 2017: A Time of Love and Tartan
  13. 2019: The Peppermint Tea Chronicles
  14. 2020: A Promise of Ankles
  15. 2022: Love in the Time of Bertie

Characters

Major recurring characters

Minor characters

Literary significance and reception

Scotland Street in Edinburgh's New Town Scotland Street Edinburgh.jpg
Scotland Street in Edinburgh's New Town

Publishers Weekly said that 44 Scotland Street was "episodic, amusing and peopled with characters both endearing and benignly problematic." [3] Library Journal said that "Smith's insightful and comic observations, makes for an amusing and absorbing look at Edinburgh's high society." [4] Bookseller said that "the writing style is understated, and the humour subtle but at times devastating." [5]

A stage adaptation, entitled The World According to Bertie, was performed at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. [6]

Television series

In 2019 it was announced that the novels would become a television series. [6] It had already been a series on BBC Radio 4. [6]

Related Research Articles

Alexander McCall Smith British/Zimbabwean writer and academic

Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE, is a British writer, raised in Southern Rhodesia and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served on related British and international committees. He has since become known as a fiction writer, with sales in English exceeding 40 million by 2010 and translations into 46 languages. He is known as the creator of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. "McCall" forms part of his surname.

Scottish Colourists

The Scottish Colourists were a group of four painters, three from Edinburgh, whose Post-Impressionist work, though not universally recognised initially, came to have a formative influence on contemporary Scottish art and culture. They four artists, Francis Cadell, John Duncan Fergusson, Leslie Hunter and Samuel Peploe, were prolific painters spanning the turn of the twentieth century until the beginnings of World War II. While now banded as one group with a collective achievement and a common sense of British identity, it is a misnomer to believe their artwork or their painterly careers were heterogeneous.

Marchmont Human settlement in Scotland

Marchmont is a mainly residential area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It lies roughly one mile to the south of the Old Town, separated from it by The Meadows and Bruntsfield Links. To the west it is bounded by Bruntsfield; to the south-southwest by Greenhill and then Morningside; to the south-southeast by The Grange; and to the east by Sciennes.

George Harvey (painter)

Sir George Frederick Harvey, Scottish painter.

Adam Black Scottish publisher and politician (1784–1874)

Adam Black was a Scottish publisher and politician. He founded the A & C Black publishing company, and published the 7th, 8th and 9th editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica.

Samuel Peploe Scottish painter (1871–1935)

Samuel John Peploe was a Scottish Post-Impressionist painter, noted for his still life works and for being one of the group of four painters that became known as the Scottish Colourists. The other colourists were John Duncan Fergusson, Francis Cadell and Leslie Hunter.

Leslie Hunter Scottish painter (1877–1931)

George Leslie Hunter was a Scottish painter, regarded as one of the four artists of the Scottish Colourists group of painters. Christened simply George Hunter, he adopted the name Leslie in San Francisco, and Leslie Hunter became his professional name. Showing an aptitude for drawing at an early age, he was largely self-taught, receiving only elementary painting lessons from a family acquaintance. He spent fifteen formative years from the age of fifteen in the US, mainly in California. He then returned to Scotland, painting and drawing there and in Paris. Subsequently, he travelled widely in Europe, especially in the South of France, but also in the Netherlands, the Pas de Calais and Italy.

Robert Alexander Rankin FRSE FRSAMD was a Scottish mathematician who worked in analytic number theory.

Kirkcaldy Galleries

Kirkcaldy Galleries is the main museum, library and exhibition space in Kirkcaldy in Fife, Scotland.

Steven Campbell (1953–2007) was a painter from Scotland.

<i>Espresso Tales</i>

Espresso Tales is a novel by Alexander McCall Smith, the author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. The story was first published as a serial novel in The Scotsman, like its predecessor, 44 Scotland Street. The book retains the 100+ short chapters of the original.

Birlinn (publisher)

Birlinn Limited is an independent publishing house based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1992 by managing director Hugh Andrew.

Landscape painting in Scotland Overview of landscape art in Scotland

Landscape painting in Scotland includes all forms of painting of landscapes in Scotland since its origins in the sixteenth century to the present day. The earliest examples of Scottish landscape painting are in the tradition of Scottish house decoration that arose in the sixteenth century. Often said to be the earliest surviving painted landscape created in Scotland is a depiction by the Flemish artist Alexander Keirincx undertaken for Charles I.

Events from the year 1874 in Scotland.

Pat Douthwaite was a Scottish artist. She has been notably compared to Amedeo Modigliani and Chaïm Soutine, the peintres maudits of early twentieth-century Paris.

Victoria Elizabeth Crowe OBE, DHC, FRSE, MA (RCA) RSA, RSW is a Scottish artist known for her portrait and landscape paintings. She has works in several collections including the National Galleries of Scotland, the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the Royal Scottish Academy.

Events from the year 1833 in Scotland.

The Sheriff of Angus was historically the royal official responsible for enforcing law and order in Angus, Scotland and bringing criminals to justice.

Adam Bruce Thomson

Adam Bruce Thomson OBE, RSA, PRSW or ‘Adam B’ as he was often called at Edinburgh College of Art, was a painter perhaps best known for his oil and water colour landscape paintings, particularly of the Highlands and Edinburgh. He is regarded as one of the Edinburgh School of artists.

Bertie Pollock is a character in The World According to Bertie and other novels in the 44 Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith. Bertie, "an endearing 7-year-old boy," has been described as the "most beloved character" in McCall Smith's novels.

References

  1. Patrick, Bethanne (9 February 2017). "Alexander McCall Smith's latest volume of the 44 Scotland Street series". The Washington Post.
  2. Sykes, Charles (January 2019). "The Bertie Factor". Commentary magazine. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  3. "44 Scotland Street". Publishers Weekly. 252 (17): 35. 25 April 2005. ISSN   0000-0019.
  4. Core, Karen (1 May 2005). "44 Scotland Street". Library Journal. 130 (8): 77. ISSN   0363-0277.
  5. Millar, Alistair (16 February 2007). "READING FOR PLEASURE". Bookseller; 2/16/2007 (5268): 23. ISSN   0006-7539.
  6. 1 2 3 "Alexander McCall Smith's Edinburgh stories get their own television series". The Scotsman. 17 August 2019.