Author | Alexander McCall Smith |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Serial novel |
Published | 2004-2005 ( The Scotsman ) (serial) 2005 (Polygon Books) (book form) |
Publication place | Scotland |
Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Serial |
Pages | 368 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.
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 ), 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 domineering 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.
Publishers Weekly said that 44 Scotland Street was "episodic, amusing and peopled with characters both endearing and benignly problematic." [2] Library Journal said that "Smith's insightful and comic observations, makes for an amusing and absorbing look at Edinburgh's high society." [3] Bookseller said that "the writing style is understated, and the humour subtle but at times devastating." [4]
A stage adaptation, entitled The World According to Bertie, was performed at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. [5]
In 2019 it was announced that the novels would become a television series. [5] It had already been a series on BBC Radio 4. [5]
James V was King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England. During his childhood Scotland was governed by regents, firstly by his mother until she remarried, and then by his first cousin once removed, John Stewart, Duke of Albany. James's personal rule began in 1528 when he finally escaped the custody of his stepfather, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. His first action was to exile Angus and confiscate the lands of the Douglases.
Duke of Hamilton is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in April 1643. It is the senior dukedom in that peerage, and as such its holder is the premier peer of Scotland, as well as being head of both the House of Hamilton and the House of Douglas. The title, the town of Hamilton in Lanarkshire, and many places around the world are named after members of the Hamilton family. The ducal family's surname, originally "Hamilton", is now "Douglas-Hamilton". Since 1711, the dukedom has been held together with the Dukedom of Brandon in the Peerage of Great Britain, and the dukes since that time have been styled Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, along with several other subsidiary titles.
The Mormaer or Earl of Angus was the ruler of the medieval Scottish province of Angus. The title, in the Peerage of Scotland, is held by the Duke of Hamilton, and is used as a courtesy title for the eldest son of the Duke's eldest son.
Sir Nicholas Hardwick Fairbairn, was a Scottish politician and advocate. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Kinross and Western Perthshire from October 1974 to 1983, and then for Perth and Kinross until his death in 1995. He was Solicitor General for Scotland from 1979 to 1982.
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.
National Galleries Scotland: Modern is part of National Galleries Scotland, which is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Modern houses the collection of modern and contemporary art dating from about 1900 to the present in two buildings, Modern One and Modern Two, that face each other on Belford Road to the west of the city centre.
Ronald Grant Browne is a Scottish folk musician and songwriter, who is a founding member of The Corries.
Rona Munro is a Scottish writer. She has written plays for theatre, radio, and television. Her film work includes Ken Loach's Ladybird, Ladybird (1994), Oranges and Sunshine (2010) for Jim Loach and Aimée & Jaguar (1999), co-authored by German director Max Färberböck. Munro is the second cousin of Scottish author Angus MacVicar.
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.
Edward the Seventh is a 1975 British historical drama series, made by ATV in 13 episodes.
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.
Michelle Duncan is a Scottish-Canadian actress, known for Driving Lessons (2006), Atonement (2007) and The Broken (2008). She portrayed Shelley Stern in the biographical drama film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).
Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley was a British artist noted for her portraiture of street children in Glasgow and for her landscapes of the fishing village of Catterline and surroundings on the North-East coast of Scotland. One of Scotland's most enduringly popular artists, her career was cut short by breast cancer. Her artistic career had three distinct phases. The first was from 1940 when she enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art through to 1949 when she had a successful exhibition of paintings created while travelling in Italy. From 1950 to 1957, Eardley's work focused on the city of Glasgow and in particular the slum area of Townhead. In the late 1950s, while still living in Glasgow, she spent much time in Catterline before moving there permanently in 1961. During the last years of her life, seascapes and landscapes painted in and around Catterline dominated her output.
Alan Sutherland was a Scottish artist based in Edinburgh. He died on 27 June 2019 at the age of 87.
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 1838 in Scotland.
Adam Bruce Thomson OBE, RSA, PRSW or ‘Adam B’ as he was often called at Edinburgh College of Art, was a Scottish 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.
The bibliography of Alexander McCall Smith, a Scottish legal scholar and author of fiction. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia and was formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an 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.