Why Buy A Espresso Tales?
Alexander McCall Smith’s many fans will be pleased with this latest installment in the bestselling 44 Scotland Street series.
 
Back are all our favorite denizens of a Georgian townhouse in Edinburgh. Bertie the immensely talented six year old is now enrolled in kindergarten, and much to his dismay, has been clad in pink overalls for his first day of class. Bruce has lost his job as a surveyor, and between admiring glances in the mirror, is contemplating becoming a wine merchant. Pat is embarking on a new life at Edinburgh University and perhaps on a new relationship, courtesy of Domenica, her witty and worldly-wise neighbor. McCall Smith has much in store for them as the brief spell of glorious summer sunshine gives way to fall a season cursed with more traditionally Scottish weather.

Full of McCall Smith’s gentle humor and sympathy for his characters, Espresso Tales is also an affectionate portrait of a city and its people who, in the author’s own words, “make it one of the most vibrant and interesting places in the world.”

Customer Reviews & Opinions

A great summer read
Another great novel by Alexander McCall Smith- super novel that keeps you engrossed and wanting more when you get to the end.

Espresso Tales
Fascinating read. McCall Smith brought all the characters to life. I found myself on the edge of my seat most of the time wondering what would happen to Pat and Matthew, would Stewart help Bertie live like a normal little boy…? Just plain good stuff. I can’t wait for the next one.

Hail to Espresso Tales!
One of the things I most admire about Alexander McCall Smith is his ability to show his readers exactly who his characters are, and to do it so convincingly. This demonstrates no small degree of talent. This talent is enhanced by McCall Smith’s real working knowledge of the worlds in which he, himself, has lived. An example of one of McCall Smith’s best drawn characters (and my favorite) in this series is young Bertie Pollock. Bertie is a very bright young chap, though stifled to the point of almost total exasperation (for the reader, at least) by his excruciatingly rigid, controlling, neurotic mother (one expects the six-year-old to explode at any moment into full blown rebellion). Bertie appears able to interpret (though not always correctly) the events going on about him and this reader, at least, looks forward to the moment when Bertie is able to successfully extract himself from his mother’s clutches. It’s agony to `watch’ the youngster work things out mentally, and, yet, be unable to break free from his invisible restraints. One of the clever ways McCall Smith demonstrates the dysfunctional state of the Pollock family is the fact that they have somehow managed to misplace their car. Can you imagine that?!

All the residents of 44 Scotland Street are interesting characters to read about, from narcissistic Bruce to wise Domenica to thoughtful Pat, even to Irene Pollock’s detached statistician husband, Stuart. It is the human foibles and antics of these folks in the Scotland Street flat in Edinburgh’s fair city who keep us readers enthralled in this series. We care about each of them to one extent or another and want to know what’s going to happen to each of them. That is, after all, what good storytelling is about. This author completely and totally draws us in.

As the proud owner of all of McCall Smith’s books, I expect to read them many times over during the years ahead. I do hope that one day (soon?) we will have the opportunity to learn more about those quirky folks in the sausage dog stories. I adore the humor, however opaque, in each of them. There are none others like them anywhere in literature.

Carolyn Rowe Hill

Changes are in the wind for the 44 Scotland Street occupants…
Following my enjoyment of 44 Scotland Street, I picked up a copy of Alexander McCall Smith’s sequel titled Espresso Tales. Still the same quirky characters as 44 Scotland Street, and still more of a “slice of life” book with no overall driving plotline. Fortunately, it’s still a lot of fun following the players as their pompous attitudes and actions get pricked and deflated…

Bertie is in a major rebellion phase against his overbearing mother Irene. She’s still trying to make progress with his psychotherapy, but she’s more interested in the therapist than Bertie is. Bertie’s father also figures out that he’s failed his son in terms of standing up to mom, and is determined to reverse that trend and give Bertie a normal boyhood. But to do that, he has to disassemble Irene’s “Bertie Project” against her will.

Bruce is convinced that he’s ready to open a wine shop and become the next great wine merchant. Ah, but he needs money to do that. He manipulates a long-time wimpish friend (George) to join him in the idea and front the cash. Bruce plunges in thinking he knows everything, but as usual he’s completely clueless as to what people really think of him. As the store gets closer to opening, he’s in for a few surprises.

Pat has decided to attend Edinburgh University and stay at 44 Scotland Street. Her father loves this idea, as he’s grown quite close to his daughter. Domenica manuvers Pat into a date with a coffee house waiter by the name of Peter. She’s somewhat uncertain about Peter on a number of different levels, and his invitation to attend a nudist picnic with him doesn’t help much. Domenica, on the other hand, is getting antsy for her next great adventure, and decides that a new study abroad is what she needs.

Matthew is surprising everyone by actually turning a profit at the art gallery. He still holds a candle for Pat, but Pat really doesn’t see him in that same light. Matthew’s world gets thrown into a complete tizzy when his father announces that he’s dating someone who he intends to marry. Matthew’s convinced that Janis is just out to get his father’s money, and makes his objections pretty clear. But all is not as it seems, and he’s in for a few surprises along the way.

And for the fans of Angus and Big Lou, they have their own adventures also…

Although I’m not a fan of “reality TV”, I do enjoy the occasional book that goes down that path. The characters of 44 Scotland Street are so engaging and quirky that it’s hard not to want to watch their lives unfold. Along the way, you see reality that’s obvious to everyone except the person who’s living it. Makes you wonder how much of that is in our own lives. I’m in possession of the 3rd installment, and I’m looking forward to starting it. The way this book ends makes you wonder how this cast of characters will be able to stay together…

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