Alexander McCall Smith 44 scotland street 6 Books Collection Pack Set RRP: £49.22 (Love Over Scotland, Espresso Tales, 44 Scotland Street, The Importance of Being Seven, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BERTIE, The Unbearable Lightness of Scones)

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Summer has come to Scotland Street, and the long days have prompted its denizens to engage in flights of fancy. With the domineering Irene off pursuing academic challenges, Stuart and Bertie are free to indulge in summer fun. Stuart reconnects with an old acquaintance over refreshing peppermint tea while Bertie takes his friend Ranald Braveheart Macpherson to the circus. But their trip to the big top becomes rather more than the pleasant diversion they were hoping for. Once again, Scotland Street teems with the daily triumphs and challenges of those who call it home, and provides a warm, wise, and witty chronicle of the affairs in this corner of the world. Bertie plots a rebellion against his mother’s plans. The sessions with Bertie’s psychiatrist are entertaining, as is the psychiatrist’s attempts to finally bring about self-realization to this child prodigy, his legendary patient. As for Bruce, I am left wondering how long this new persona will last. Not to be too much of a pessimist, and I do believe people can change, but … really?? After seven years and five books, Bertie is—finally!—about to turn seven. But one afternoon he mislays his meddling mother, Irene, and learns a valuable lesson: wish-fulfillment can be a dangerous business. Angus and Domenica contemplate whether to give in to romance on holiday in Italy, and even usually down-to-earth Big Lou is overheard discussing cosmetic surgery. Funny, warm, and heartfelt as ever, The Importance of Being Seven offers fresh and wise insights into philosophy and fraternity among Edinburgh’s most lovable residents. But there are mysteries that need solving too. Could Angus Lordie's dog, Cyril--the only dog in Scotland with a gold tooth--have unearthed a Neanderthal skull? Does the long-suffering Stuart have any hope of kindling a new relationship when Bruce, ever the navel gazer and consummate seducer, effortlessly steps into his pas de deux? And how will the patrons of Big Lou's cafe react to the menu's imminent culinary transformation?

I really hope Big Lou’s marriage holds up — she certainly deserves some happiness — although I have my doubts about her new husband. And I want to scream at Stuart “What the hell are you doing?”

A collective sigh of relief must have been heard from many readers lips when she left Scotland Street. Some of the storylines in this particular instalment were a little jarring. Still, at least there was no Nudist association or Duke of Johannesburg storyline. Personally, I think maybe one of his retired academic legal cronies one day stared him in the eye over a few pints of dark brown Guinness, an’ muttered, “Aye, Sandy me lad, yer rich an’ famous - so why not now GET WI’ THE TIMES? Angus Lordie is a traditional portrait artist with an animus against The Turner Prize, which awards conceptual art - such as a video of a chair seen from different angles - rather than art objects. In fact Angus has taught his dog Cyril to lift his leg whenever he hears the words Turner Prize. The new tenants turn out to be five university students, and everyone knows students can be bad news with their parties and such. Nevertheless, Domenica is impressed when she meets the 'leader' of the group, an affable, well-built young man named Torquil, who has a strikingly handsome face with dimples.

James has something else on his mind as well. James has been calling and texting his eccentric uncle, the Duke of Johannesburg, but the duke hasn't responded. So James and Matthew take steps to see what's up with the duke. And we follow each individual as they interact with one another as well as face their life struggles induvial.

Publication Order of 44 Scotland Street Books

At school, Bertie is thrown into a gender crisis by malicious Olive and her lieutenant, Pansy, but Nicola has one or two solutions up her sleeve. Blue jeans get immediate approval from Stuart. The second, less desirable, solution morphs into a welcome break from Bertie’s plaguers: a month-long educational exchange to a school in Bertie’s promised land, Glasgow, with his best friend, Ranald Braveheart MacPherson. While nasty, needling Olive and Pansy make a concerted effort to sour Bertie’s anticipation, they can’t spoil the added special treat that Nicola has in store for the boys. Olive insists Bertie agreed to marry her when they're twenty (he didn't), and Olive now claims to be looking at venues, searching for a band, tasting wedding cakes, etc., much to Bertie's horror. Thus a lecture entitled 'New Directions in Scottish Conceptual Art,' where the speaker states 'we don't need paintings, we need experiences,' leaves Angus worried about the future of Scottish painting. After Bruce is caught enjoying a romantic meal with his employer’s wife, he loses his job and his American girlfriend rejects him. This disillusioned ex-surveyor prepares to embark on a new career as a wine merchant.

Pat is accepted as a tenant at 44 Scotland Street, where she meets her fellow residents: Bruce, a narcissistic surveyor with whom she somewhat reluctantly falls in love; Domenica MacDonald, an opinionated but fascinating middle-aged widow who is an anthropologist; and Angus, a portrait painter and owner of Cyril, the dog with a fetish for ankles.I enjoyed the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series until it ran out of steam. The same characters without anything new to add to them so they become caricatures of themselves And always in the, same settings with the same very tiny and unimportant plots. There are very short chapters, and at first I could tell this was written in serial form and I didn’t like it that much, but I got used to it, and even started appreciating the jumping around between characters. The story ends with the annual neighborhood party thrown by Angus and Domenica, where Angus reads his original poem about love. Sister Maria-Fiore dei Fiori di Montagna continues to offer aphorisms, some more enigmatic than others: “Two snails do not argue about whose shell is the more attractive.” Angus compares conceptual art to the emperor’s new clothes, there is a marriage proposal, Highland Games are organised for the Drummond Street Gardens and, as always, Angus bestows a poem on the gathered company. The residents and neighbors of 44 Scotland Street and the city of Edinburgh come to vivid life in these gently satirical, wonderfully perceptive serial novels, featuring six-year-old Bertie, a remarkably precocious boy—just ask his mother.

A Promise Of Ankles is the fourteenth book in the 44 Scotland Street serial novel by Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith, and in it, the lives of the residents of 44 Scotland Street and those of their friends are, once again, updated for the continuing enjoyment of series fans. The audio version is narrated by David Rintoul.

Now Irene insists her son must visit her for three months, to the dismay of Bertie, his father Stuart and his grandmother Nicola. The latest in the hugely popular 44 Scotland Street series from the worldwide bestselling author, Alexander McCall Smith Inspired by Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, 44 Scotland Street started life as a serial in The Scotsman. It was a huge hit, and was soon novelised, adapted on stage and dramatised for BBC Radio 4. Collected here are all five radio series, in which we follow the interconnected lives of the residents of adjoining flats in a tenement in Edinburgh's Georgian New Town. Alexander McCall Smith had already created two incredibly diverse series — one with Mma Precious Ramotswe, the intuitive and clever Botswanan detective who debuted in the novel The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and philosopher Isabel Dalhousie of The Sunday Philosophy Club series — when a chance meeting with Armistead Maupin gave us 44 Scotland Street. Speaking with Maupin, the author of Tales of the City, gave Smith the idea of borrowing the idea of the apartment house in San Francisco and transplanting it to Edinburgh’s trendy New Town neighborhood. This being Smith, the result isn’t the least derivative. On the upside, Bertie has been happily free from psychoanalysis, saxophone lessons, yoga classes, Italian lessons, etc. since his mother Irene moved to Aberdeen to get a Ph.D.