The Unbearable Lightness of Scones: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (5)
by Alexander Mccall Smith
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alexander Mccall SmithEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2010-01-12
ISBN: 0307454703
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Anchor
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780307454706
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Unbearable Lightness of Scones: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (5)
Book Review: A delightful tale with a few more mysteries and insights into a growing cast of characters
Summary: 4 Stars
Alexander McCall Smith, the popular author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, published a serialized column called "44 Scotland Street" for the Edinburgh Scotsman, which was turned into a book by the same name. It was a tongue-in-cheek peek at Edinburgh society, complete with returning characters whose lives intersect with a group of people who live at the fictional address in Edinburgh's New Town.
THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF SCONES is the fifth book in this series, following on the heels of THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BERTIE, which featured the adventures of Bertie Pollock, a precocious six-year-old resident of the fictitious apartment building. Turning the spotlight on some of the other colorful characters is a delightful tale with a few more mysteries and insights into a growing cast of characters.
Bertie and his friends have decided to become Cub Scouts, which (he discovers to his dismay) must now legally accept girls. It was his one chance to escape the attentions of his schoolmate, Olive, who promises to grow up to be as insufferable as Bertie's mother.
Curmudgeonly Angus Lordie, a landscape and portrait painter, and his gold-toothed dog, Cyril, were left at the end of the last book with the product of Cyril's rendezvous in the park with an unnamed female of indeterminate breeding. Five months later, the mother dog's owner angrily rang the doorbell and deposited a box containing the six puppies on Angus's doorstep. Now Angus is left to figure out what to do with his population explosion. This story has not yet reached its denouement.
Sedate art dealer Matthew, newly wed and off with his bride on their honeymoon to Australia, discovers almost too late that adventure may not be a suitable lifestyle for him and his new bride. He also discovers a shocking skeleton in his family closet.
Domenica, Angus's close friend and confidante, is in an ongoing turmoil with an old friend and neighbor over a stolen Spode cup. Their tenuous relationship escalates to nearly insurmountable dimensions as suspicious deliveries begin to arrive at her door. There may also be romance in the air between Domenica and Angus, although two confirmed singles of a certain age might encounter unforeseen and quite possibly insurmountable obstacles.
Bruce, the vainest male in Scotland whose good looks have carried him far but never far enough, is confronted with reality in this installment. Can he become "The Face of Scotland," or will an epiphany of the heart save this narcissistic young fop from his foibles?
Big Lou, the owner of a local pub who has a reputation for bad taste in men, has her patience put to the ultimate test when her current boyfriend, a fervent Jacobite, brings the Pretender to the Throne of Scotland back from France to sleep on her couch until he can reclaim his title.
Gangster Lard O'Connor shows up unexpectedly at Matthew's gallery to have a potentially priceless (and no doubt ill-gained) portrait of poet Robert Burns appraised. This has Matthew, Domenica and Angus in a quandary as to how to handle it, especially when Lard drops dead at Lou's bar.
44 Scotland Street is almost a real address, but not quite. An examination via Google Maps shows the last address to be at Number 43. The people and stories in THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF SCONES could also be true, according to McCall Smith in his Preface. He says that you can see these people any day in the New Town section of Edinburgh, which all lends a feeling of eavesdropping on the residents of this most Scottish city. One must wonder: Do the real denizens of Edinburgh glance covertly over their cocktail glasses at one another across a crowded party or a restaurant and think, I wonder if...?
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
Summary of The Unbearable Lightness of Scones: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (5)
The witty and utterly delightful new novel in the national bestselling 44 Scotland Street series.Featuring all the quirky characters we have come to know and love, The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, finds Bertie, the precocious six-year-old, still troubled by his rather overbearing mother, Irene, but seeking his escape in the Cub Scouts. Matthew is rising to the challenge of married life with newfound strength and resolve, while Domenica epitomizes the loneliness of the long-distance intellectual. Cyril, the gold-toothed star of the whole show, succumbs to the kind of romantic temptation that no dog can resist and creates a small problem, or rather six of them, for his friend and owner Angus Lordie.
With his customary deftness, Alexander McCall Smith once again brings us an absorbing and entertaining tale of some of Scotland's most quirky and beloved characters--all set in the beautiful, stoic city of Edinburgh.
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