This book has been optimized for viewing at a monitor setting of 1024 x 768 pixels.
Praise for Alexander McCall Smith’s 4 4 S C O T L A N D S T R E E T
The First Novel in the Series
“This soulful, sweet [book] will make you feel as though you live in Edinburgh, if only for a short while, and it’s a fine place to visit indeed. . . . Long live the folks on Scotland Street.” — The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
“McCall Smith’s generous writing and dry humor, his gentleness and humanity, and his ability to evoke a place and a set of characters without caricature or condescen-sion have endeared his books . . . to readers.”
— The New York Times
“Entertaining and witty. . . . A sly send-up of society in Edinburgh.”
— The Orlando Sentinel
“A welcome addition to the McCall Smith repertoire. . . .
Few writers are better than McCall Smith at making the telling observation. . . . [And] it is far more fun to read
[than] Flaubert.”
— The Miami Herald
“Alexander McCall Smith is the most genial of writers and the most gentle of satirists. . . . [The] characters are great fun . . . [and] McCall Smith treats all of them with affection. . . . Life’s lessons are laid on in this novel with the lightest of touch.”
— Rocky Mountain News
“Pure McCall Smith. . . . A finely judged blend of wit and wisdom.”
— Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
“Amusing. . . . Endearing. . . . The possibility of romance, the ongoing ups and downs of the large, well-drawn cast of characters, the intricate plot and the way McCall Smith nimbly jumps from situation to situation work beautifully.”
— The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne)
“Intelligent writing. . . . McCall Smith’s cast of characters is varied and well-drawn. . . . It’s a pleasure to read a novel that exercises your mind.”
— The Oakland Tribune
“[McCall Smith’s] sense of gentle but pointed humor is once again afoot in 44 Scotland Street. . . . The short chapters make for perfect bedtime reading.”
— The Seattle Times
“A joyous, charming portrait of city life and human foibles, which moves beyond its setting to deal with deep moral issues and love, desire and friendship. Without resorting to clichéd cliff-hangers, McCall Smith has mastered the short, episodic chapter endearingly.”
— Sunday Express
A l e x a n d e r M c C a l l S m i t h E S P R E S S O TA L E S
Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the huge international phenomenon, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, and The Sunday Philosophy Club series.
He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe, and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana and at Edinburgh University. He lives in Scotland. Visit his Web site at www.alexandermccallsmith.com.
books by Alexander McCall Smith
In The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Tears of the Giraffe
Morality for Beautiful Girls
The Kalahari Typing School for Men The Full Cupboard of Life
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Blue Shoes and Happiness
In The Sunday Philosophy Club series
The Sunday Philosophy Club
Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
In the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series Portuguese Irregular Verbs
The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs
At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances In the 44 Scotland Street series
44 Scotland Street
Espresso Tales
The Girl Who Married a Lion and Other Tales from Africa i
E S P R E S S O T A L E S
ii
Chapter title
A l e x a n d e r
M c C a l l S m i t h
E S P R E S S O
T A L E S
Illustrations by I a i n M c I n t o s h a n c h o r b o o k s
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York
F I R S T A N C H O R B O O K S E D I T I O N , J U LY 2 0 0 6
Copyright © 2005 by Alexander McCall Smith Illustrations copyright © 2005 by Iain McIntosh All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in Great Britain by Polygon, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd., Edinburgh, in 2 0 0 5 .
Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book is excerpted from a series that originally appeared in the Scotsman newspaper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McCall Smith, Alexander, 1 9 4 8 –
Espresso Tales : tales from 4 4 Scotland Street / Alexander McCall Smith ; illustrated by Iain McIntosh.
p. cm.
1 . Roommates—Fiction. 2 . Apartment houses—Fiction. 3 . Edinburgh (Scotland)—Social life and customs—Fiction. 4 . Humorous stories, English.
I. Title.
PR6 0 6 3 .C3 2 6 E8 7 2 0 0 6
8 2 3 ' . 9 1 7 —dc2 2
2 0 0 5 0 5 7 1 7 5
eISBN: 978-0-307-38639-7
www.anchorbooks.com
v1.0
Chapter title
v
Preface
This is volume two of a serial novel which I started to write in The Scotsman newspaper and which, at the time of publication of this book, I am still writing. The enjoyment which I have obtained from spinning this long-running tale of a house and its occupants in Edinburgh is, I hope, apparent on every page.
It has never been a chore. Not for a moment.
At the end of the first volume, 44 Scotland Street, I left matters unresolved for many of the characters. Now in Espresso Tales we see the continuation of many of the themes begun in volume one. Bertie, that immensely talented six-year-old, is still in therapy, and his plight seems to get worse and worse. Bruce, the unbearable narcissistic surveyor, is still as irritating as before, perhaps even more so. If there is any justice, he will get his come-uppance in this volume (but don’t count on that). And Domenica, that sage occupant of the top floor of 44 Scotland Street, continues to comment on the world with her mordant wit.
During the writing of this book, which appeared in daily parts in The Scotsman, I received comments from many readers. Some wrote in with suggestions; others occasionally upbraided me for the views which some of the characters expressed. I inadvertently ruffled the feathers of an entire Scottish town at one point, and at another I received a very reproachful letter from a convinced vegan. These, I suppose, are the consequences of writing a novel under the scrutiny of the public eye.
This is, of course, not a work of scrupulous social realism.
However, unlike in many other novels, all the places in this book exist, and a number of the characters are real people, who currently live in Edinburgh and who agreed to appear, as themselves, in this story. Other people have, for some reason, imagined that they xii
Preface