Product Description

Following on from the huge success of the 'Scotland Street' series, Alexander McCall Smith 'moved house' to London's Pimlico and into his brand new daily novel, 'Corduroy Mansions'. The building itself - described in a guide to the architecture of the area as 'a building of no interest whatsoever' - is believed to have been built as an asylum, or possibly a school, or maybe it was a mansion block - nobody is very sure. In fact, nothing of its history is known, although it does have some nice Arts and Craft features. At the moment it is inhabited by an assortment of characters - including amongst others a literary agent, a wine merchant, one accountant, possibly the first ever nasty Liberal Democrat MP and his long-suffering PA, and a small dog in his prime. At least one character is on a voyage of self-discovery, which has taken him to Cheltenham so far. Although Corduroy Mansions is a nickname, it is now recognized by the Post Office.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1683 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-01
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

About the Author
Alexander McCall Smith is one of the world's most prolific and most popular authors. His career has been a varied one: for many years he was a professor of Medical Law and worked in universities in the United Kingdom and abroad. Then, after the publication of his highly successful No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has sold over fifteen million copies, he devoted his time to the writing of fiction and has seen his various series of books translated into over forty languages and become bestsellers through the world. These include the Scotland Street novels, first published as a serial novel in The Scotsman, the Isabel Dalhousie novels, and the Von Igelfeld series. Alexander is also the author of collections of short stories, academic works, and over thirty books for children. He has received numerous awards for his writing, including the British Book Awards Author of the Year Award in 2004 and a CBE for service to literature in 2007. He holds honorary doctorates from nine universities in Europe and North America. Alexander McCall Smith lives in Edinburgh. He is married to a doctor and has two daughters.

Customer Reviews

Kindly and thoughful exploration of human behaviour
Corduroy Mansions is in the same vein as 44 Scotland Street, but set in London. The inhabitants of a block of flats are the core characters who interact with the outside world. McCall Smith creates a range of believable people and weaves stories around them that illustrate human feelings and behaviour. When reading his books, I feel that the author is a kind and humane man who tries to see the best in people. His books do not depict the underbelly of society not are they full of violence, but they are not overly sentimental and do deal with philosophical and moral issues. I know Edinburgh well and the Scotland Street books are full of familiar Streets and venues which add to the pleasure. I don't feel that Corduroy Mansions has so many allusions to place, which is not surprising as McCall Smith has lived and worked in Edinburgh for a long time. The format of the book (like the Scottish series) is a series of short chapters, previously published in a daily newspaper, giving the book a pacy immediacy that carries the reader along. It's a bit like a superior soap opera where one follows the lives of the largely middle-class characters from day to day. Very enjoyable.

McCall Smith: the Charles Dickens of the 21st century
Whenever I tried on Wikipedia to say that Alexander McCall Smith was the Dickens of the 21st century, some officious editor would complain and say that McCall Smith is no Dickens. Well, in a way that is true: CORDUROY MANSIONS is far more fun to read and not even remotely depressing, which Dickens can often be.

And even the most fastidious Wiki editor had to admit that McCall Smith has revived the serial novel, the form that Dickens made so famous in the 19th century. First we had the magnificent series set in Edinburgh (44 Scotland Street) and now we have the equally wonderful and totally enjoyable CORDUROY MANSIONS.

The characters are as brilliantly drawn as always and are just as funny, poignant, thoughtful and superbly observed as ever. We have got to know a lot of wonderful new people through the serialization in the Daily Telegraph and now we have it in permanent book form.

(And some of the characters are real people, as at least one chapter shows....)

I will be buying several copies of this and giving them to friends - why not do the same? Summer is coming, and this is the ideal summer present to have as holiday reading.

Christopher Catherwood (author of CHURCHILL'S FOLLY: HOW WINSTON CHURCHILL CREATED MODERN IRAQ)

Totally absorbing!
I bought this book on Saturday afternoon and had devoured it by Sunday evening. It is, as all McCall-Smith's books are, a gem to be treasured and savoured. His deftness of touch in characterisation and in describing the delicate minutiae of human interaction is second to none. His wit, charm and humanity shine through on every page. He has done for London what the 44 Scotland Street novels did for Edinburgh, and I for one can't wait for more. In Corduroy Mansions, he has yet again created a wonderful cast of characters, some pleasant, some not so pleasant, and some on a totally different planet from the rest of us! And it is really from the interactions between these characters that he weaves his magic. I have heard it said that nothing much happens in this writers books, and to a certain extent that is true, but that is to misunderstand what his books are really all about. They are ultimately about people, and the delight I get from his books lies in his ability to let us hear the intimate thoughts of others, with all their secret hopes, dreams, fears and foibles.

I unhesitatingly recommend this book and anything else written by the wonderful Mr McCall-Smith!