44 Scotland Street cover art

44 Scotland Street

44 Scotland Street, Book 1

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44 Scotland Street

By: Alexander McCall Smith
Narrated by: Hilary Neville
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About this listen

The story revolves around the comings and goings at No. 44 Scotland Street, a fictitious building in a real street in Edinburgh. Immediately recognisable are 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. In McCall Smith's hands such characters retain charm and novelty, simultaneously arousing both mirth and empathy. 44 Scotland Street is vintage McCall Smith, tackling issues of trust and honesty, snobbery and hypocrisy, love and loss, but all with great lightness of touch. Clever, elegant and funny, this is a novel that provides huge entertainment but which is underpinned by the moral dilemmas of everyday life and the characters' struggles to resolve them.

©2005 Alexander McCall Smith (P)2011 Hachette Digital Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Urban Scotland Funny
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I enjoyed this book immensely. There’s a delightful smattering of philosophy & human wisdom. I felt it was a strange & abrupt ending

Delightful listen

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The plot was written clearly and cleverly and never droll . Clear voices and delivery make for a superb listen

Narrated beautifully.

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enjoyed it very much. very entertaining and easy to listen to. Very funny at times.

entertaining listen

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A fascinatingly character-driven story with philosophical musings naturally interspersed throughout the narrative. An easy and engaging listen with some very funny moments.

Character sketches

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I couldn't finish this - I got a decent way through though. The characters are unpleasant, and it feels like AMS is making fun of them but without the affection his novels usually have. Boring, tedious, and mean.

Mean

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it didn't go anywhere just ended. it developed the characters then ended really suddenly. is there a sequel?

Where was the plot?

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