A Promise of Ankles

44 Scotland Street #14

by Alexander McCall Smith

From the hugely popular 44 Scotland Street series comes the latest adventures of Bertie and his family and friends.

The winds of change are blowing through Scotland Street. Though Bertie is getting older, he can't resist an adventure to escape his domineering mother, and Bruce, ever the navel-gazer, will have to bring his best self to navigate the complexities of the pas de deux. While Alexander McCall Smith's delightfully warm and witty comedy takes some surprising turns, the improbable adventures of this quirky cast of Scots will affirm the heart and joy in Edinburgh's New Town.

A Promise of Ankles is the fourteenth installment of this beloved series.

Genres: Fiction, Scotland, Humor, Audiobook, Mystery, Contemporary, Comedy

322 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2020

About the author

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland. Visit him online at www.alexandermccallsmith.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Reviews

[Phrynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful title! Any long term reader of this excellent series will know at once that it must refer to the one and only Cyril, the dog with a golden tooth and a penchant for nipping ankles.

So we are back in the wonderful world of 44 Scotland Street discovering the latest events. Good things are happening to Bertie at last, although a weekend visit from the dreaded Irene reminds us that she is there in the wings and that she could still turn life up side down if she was to return. Bruce also pops up again and does his usual damage. I enjoyed the time spent with Elspeth, Matthew, James and the triplets. They have ups and downs but theirs is basically a very happy home.

I always enjoy these books so much and I thought this one was excellent. There were a few tear jerking moments such as when Bertie tells Stuart it was not his fault that he married Mummy! And then there was the wonderful poem in the final chapter which left me smiling as I closed the book. Perfect.

[Carolyn Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the many delightful series and standalone novels by Alexander McCall Smith, the 44 Scotland Street(Edinburgh) books are my favourite. I always look forward to each new addition, and it is like revisiting old friends. The books have warmth and humour while containing a gentle philosophy and thought-provoking conversations to ponder.

Adorable Bertie is back, and the seven-year-old is overcome with anticipation and joy. He is visiting Glasgow for a month with his best friend. He has long regarded Glasgow as the promised land. His family has just endured a short visit from his horrible mother. His intimidated father, Stuart, is finally asserting himself and is dating a new girlfriend. How does that work out for him?

We visit Matthew, his wife and their rambunctious triplets. Matthew now has part interest in Big Lou's Cafe and is encountering resistance in upgrading the menu. James, the young man who cares for the triplets part-time, is worried about his uncle, the Duke of Johannesburg. He fears he has been kidnapped. He and Matthew embark on a mission to save his uncle.

Angus's dog, Cyril, may have unearthed a skull that excites his wife. She is an anthropologist and believes the skull may be a valuable historical find. Cyril is trying to resist the urge to bite people's ankles.

Once again, Bruce, the supreme narcissist and serial seducer, is engaged in his conceited and hurtful behaviour. Does he succeed this time and escape his karma?

Our visit with these quirky people is once more interrupted by discussing the plans and rivalries of a nudist club. This does not seem relevant since it has no connection to any of our Scotland Street friends' lives.

I am impatiently awaiting the 15th book to learn what happens next with the 44 Scotland Street residents.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

44 Scotland St has been my favourite Alexander McCall Smith series. This one fell a bit short of expectations. Some of the more recent character additions are a little tiresome, and as the cast gets larger, the story has become even slower and more unwieldy. And I don’t entirely agree with all Smith’s musings on life.
There is still plenty of humour, though. The stories of Bertie, Big Lou, and Matthew are amusing.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is the 14th book in the "44 Scotland Street" series. It can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the series is a plus.



In these affable, humorous books Alexander McCall Smith follows the lives of a group of people who reside in Edinburgh's "New Town" neighborhood. Many of the characters live in apartments at 44 Scotland Street - and others are their neighbors, friends and acquaintances.

*****

Domenica is an independent anthropologist who's interested in people, especially the new renters moving into the ground floor of 44 Scotland Street.



The new tenants turn out to be five university students, and everyone knows students can be bad news with their parties and such. Nevertheless, Domenica is impressed when she meets the 'leader' of the group, an affable, well-built young man named Torquil, who has a strikingly handsome face with dimples.



Domenica is even more impressed when Torquil borrows her mop and bucket to take his turn wiping down the building's staircases.


Domenica's husband, Angus Lordie, is a portrait artist whose best friend is his dog Cyril.



Cyril is a good boy aside from his compulsion to bite ankles, which is usually kept under control. One day Angus and his friend are hiking with Cyril when the canine digs up what looks like an old human skull. Domenica opines that the skull might be from a Neanderthal man, and the couple are excited to check with experts.



*****

Irene Pollock is a difficult controlling woman who dominated the lives of her husband Stuart and her seven-year-old son Bertie. Now - to the relief of Bertie, Stuart, and Stuart's mother Nicola - Irene has taken herself off to Aberdeen to study for her Ph.D. and continue her affair with Dr. Fairbairn. Still, Irene visits Edinburgh on occasion, and she's in town to see her sons, Bertie and his baby brother Ulysses.

The instant Irene steps into the apartment she starts criticizing, her first issue being that Nicola moved the bread bin from one table to another.



Irene then complains about the contents of the kitchen cabinets and proceeds to needle and demean Stuart. Stuart manages to escape to meet his friend Katie, with whom Stuart hopes to have a romance.....but there may be a spanner in the works.



Meanwhile, poor little Bertie.....



.....is still being plagued by his classmate Olive, who's constantly make spiteful, cutting remarks and insisting that Bertie will have to marry her.



Bertie's grandmother Nicola has had enough of this and makes a plan to get Bertie away for a time.



*****

Art gallery owner Matthew.....



.....and his wife Elspeth have toddler triplet boys who are more than a handful.





Matthew and Elspeth employ a nineteen-year-old au pair named James, who's wonderful with the children and a great cook to boot.



Elspeth is getting antsy about being stuck in the country with the kids, so Matthew bought a 51% share of Big Lou's Coffee Shop (run by Big Lou), which Elspeth will (eventually) help manage.



Meanwhile, Matthew and Elspeth arrange for James to be a part-time au pair and a part-time assistant in Big Lou's Coffee Shop - where James will create new noshes for the customers.

James has something else on his mind as well. James has been calling and texting his eccentric uncle, the Duke of Johannesburg, but the duke hasn't responded. So James and Matthew take steps to see what's up with the duke.

*****

Nosy, aphorism-spouting Italian nun, Sister Maria-Fiore dei Fiori di Montagna, has been rapidly climbing the Edinburgh social ladder since she moved to town.



The nun is now on the board of the Scottish National Gallery, which is considering putting warning labels on 'disturbing paintings' such as Nicolas Poussin's 'Landscape with a Man Killed by a Snake.'



****

We meet two new characters in this book - two professional men patronizing Big Lou's Coffee Shop - who happen to be the director and secretary of the Scottish nudist society. There's a rivalry between Edinburgh nudists and Glasgow nudists, and this vignette is hilarious.



****

I always enjoy the books in this series, and like the fact that the novels - replete with words and phrases from the author's profession as a legal scholar - expand my vocabulary. Recommended for a bit of light reading.

You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There, under the table, with its distinct sub-tabular smells, Cyril’s self-restraint was frequently tested almost to breaking point as he contemplated the ankles that he might so easily and deliciously nip. He did not bite; lesser dogs did that…”

A Promise Of Ankles is the fourteenth book in the 44 Scotland Street serial novel by Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith, and in it, the lives of the residents of 44 Scotland Street and those of their friends are, once again, updated for the continuing enjoyment of series fans. The audio version is narrated by David Rintoul.

With the awful Irene away in Aberdeen, life for Stewart Pollock and his seven-year-old son Bertie is pretty good, but just a short return visit reinforces all those negative impressions. Stuart offers his mother the use of Irene’s study, a revenge in which Nicola exults. Just as Stuart is sure he is in love with Katie, our favourite narcissist, Bruce Anderson appears on the scene. Stuart has to make do with a poem…

At school, Bertie is thrown into a gender crisis by malicious Olive and her lieutenant, Pansy, but Nicola has one or two solutions up her sleeve. Blue jeans get immediate approval from Stuart. The second, less desirable, solution morphs into a welcome break from Bertie’s plaguers: a month-long educational exchange to a school in Bertie’s promised land, Glasgow, with his best friend, Ranald Braveheart MacPherson. While nasty, needling Olive and Pansy make a concerted effort to sour Bertie’s anticipation, they can’t spoil the added special treat that Nicola has in store for the boys.

Domenica MacDonald makes the acquaintance of a new tenant, one of a group of students renting the vacant flat. She knows her husband, Angus Lordie will be heartened by the fact that they are studying the classics. Angus’s dog, Cyril manages (mostly) to resist the repeated temptation of biteable ankles within his reach, and unwittingly indulges in a bit of archaeology.

At the gallery, Pat’s new job in Paris presents the ever-kind Matthew with a staffing problem. At Big Lou’s café, as part-owner, he tries to interest Big Lou in varying the menu. But at home, Matthew can only contemplate his good fortune: the love of Elspeth and his triplets, and work of James, the excellent au pair. Thus, he is surprised to find himself twice engaging in house-breaking.

As always, characters reflect on, or expostulate on a variety of subjects, exposing the reader to small doses of gentle philosophy in the process. Childhood games, customer service, the comfort of continuity, envy, sonnets, Neanderthals, historical guilt, vanilla poetry, prayers and barking, bagpipes and belonging, oppression, justice and the blessing of benign government, the loss of the Gaelic language,and categories of rows in a shared flat: all these feature. And of course, McCall Smith can’t resist a dig at the Turner Prize.

McCall Smith neatly resolves the question of a possibly significant archaeological find. James’s successful method of corralling triplets is revealed, as is some of Angus Lordie’s backstory. Bertie is unfailingly delightful, and occasionally manages to squeeze the reader’s heart: “Bertie reached out to touch his father’s forearm. ‘Don’t look sad, Daddy,’ he whispered. ‘It wasn’t your fault that you married Mummy.’”

The concept of a serial novel is an interesting one, as the author is locked into what he has written earlier, unable to edit. Thus the name change of one of the students is more likely to be noted when presented in book format than when read in instalments in the Scotsman. McCall Smith’s work is always a joy to read. This one has a generous helping of laugh-out-loud moments and a hilarious final twist, and fans will hope for many more instalments of this delightful series.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There, under the table, with its distinct sub-tabular smells, Cyril’s self-restraint was frequently tested almost to breaking point as he contemplated the ankles that he might so easily and deliciously nip. He did not bite; lesser dogs did that…”

A Promise Of Ankles is the fourteenth book in the 44 Scotland Street serial novel by Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith, and in it, the lives of the residents of 44 Scotland Street and those of their friends are, once again, updated for the continuing enjoyment of series fans.

With the awful Irene away in Aberdeen, life for Stewart Pollock and his seven-year-old son Bertie is pretty good, but just a short return visit reinforces all those negative impressions. Stuart offers his mother the use of Irene’s study, a revenge in which Nicola exults. Just as Stuart is sure he is in love with Katie, our favourite narcissist, Bruce Anderson appears on the scene. Stuart has to make do with a poem…

At school, Bertie is thrown into a gender crisis by malicious Olive and her lieutenant, Pansy, but Nicola has one or two solutions up her sleeve. Blue jeans get immediate approval from Stuart. The second, less desirable, solution morphs into a welcome break from Bertie’s plaguers: a month-long educational exchange to a school in Bertie’s promised land, Glasgow, with his best friend, Ranald Braveheart MacPherson. While nasty, needling Olive and Pansy make a concerted effort to sour Bertie’s anticipation, they can’t spoil the added special treat that Nicola has in store for the boys.

Domenica MacDonald makes the acquaintance of a new tenant, one of a group of students renting the vacant flat. She knows her husband, Angus Lordie will be heartened by the fact that they are studying the classics. Angus’s dog, Cyril manages (mostly) to resist the repeated temptation of biteable ankles within his reach, and unwittingly indulges in a bit of archaeology.

At the gallery, Pat’s new job in Paris presents the ever-kind Matthew with a staffing problem. At Big Lou’s café, as part-owner, he tries to interest Big Lou in varying the menu. But at home, Matthew can only contemplate his good fortune: the love of Elspeth and his triplets, and work of James, the excellent au pair. Thus, he is surprised to find himself twice engaging in house-breaking.

As always, characters reflect on, or expostulate on a variety of subjects, exposing the reader to small doses of gentle philosophy in the process. Childhood games, customer service, the comfort of continuity, envy, sonnets, Neanderthals, historical guilt, vanilla poetry, prayers and barking, bagpipes and belonging, oppression, justice and the blessing of benign government, the loss of the Gaelic language,and categories of rows in a shared flat: all these feature. And of course, McCall Smith can’t resist a dig at the Turner Prize.

McCall Smith neatly resolves the question of a possibly significant archaeological find. James’s successful method of corralling triplets is revealed, as is some of Angus Lordie’s backstory. Bertie is unfailingly delightful, and occasionally manages to squeeze the reader’s heart: “Bertie reached out to touch his father’s forearm. ‘Don’t look sad, Daddy,’ he whispered. ‘It wasn’t your fault that you married Mummy.’”

The concept of a serial novel is an interesting one, as the author is locked into what he has written earlier, unable to edit. Thus the name change of one of the students is more likely to be noted when presented in book format than when read in instalments in the Scotsman. McCall Smith’s work is always a joy to read. This one has a generous helping of laugh-out-loud moments and a hilarious final twist, and fans will hope for many more instalments of this delightful series.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly fun, but sometimes mildly annoying. I got the sense that the author would start a storyline then get distracted and move on to another, as there were several loose ends left dangling. A gentle book to pass the time.

[Ellery Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Rashmi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. That's saying a lot for an author whom I usually love, and a book series of his that I adore to the point that I visited all of the places in 44 Scotland Street when I was last in Edinburgh. Just super bored of McCall Smith's fake straw feminist and his cheap shots at feminism in the form of Bertie's mother. She isn't even a real person, just an embodiment of what the author believes feminism stands for. Really poor writing. Usually I can ignore Irene and her boring husband's plot line (heck, even Bertie is kind of boring but I tolerate him). But in this one, I just got kind of fed up.

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as it was published, one chapter per day, in The Scotsman newspaper. I think I like reading these novels in book format better, as the pace is so slow that stretching it out over months makes it feel... well, glacial. But it was an interesting experience, and my first time reading something serialized in a newspaper.

[Leah Klein · Rating 2 out of 5]

The 44 Scotland Street series used to be my favorite of all AMS's works, but I feel like he's just phoning it in with this one. Because of the title I had high hopes that we would get more of Cyril the dog's internal musings, but his role is limited. And it seems like the human characters who used to be interesting and multi-dimensional have faded into one-dimensional caricatures.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I always enjoy AMS, and I enjoyed this book, but it wasn’t a “wow” one for me. My favorite character is Pat, and she was here, but only briefly and I feel like she is being written out of the series. Things are looking up for Bertie though and I always like checking in with these characters to see what they’re getting up to. Looking forward to getting to the latest book in this series soonish!

[MR M L P HORABIN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as past books in the series , too much Dominica and poetry and would have liked to have seen if Stuart and Irene would be getting divorced and Irene responding to Nicola taking over her study and reaction to Bertie going to Glasgow but sadly not explored , pity .

[Pauline Calkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 14th book in a series that has followed the lives of some Edinburgh residents as they grapple with their First World Problems. I had found the books enjoyable for the most part, but had given up the series since the author kept recycling situations, and, what was even more frustrating, refused to let the most appealing character, the precocious child Bertie age. In the first book published in 2005, Bertie was 5. The last book I read was just a few years ago and he was about to turn seven. He is 7 in the present volume, published in 2020. (The Importance of Being Sevenwas book #6.) I decided to read this book only after I promised to return it to the library for a friend.

While Bertie is precocious (a neighbor finds him reading a book on the life of Kierkegaard), he is sweet-tempered and just wants to be a normal boy. His best friend is Ranald Braveheart Macpherson. He wants to be a Boy Scout, but that group is anathema to his termagant, ultra-leftist, ultra feminist mother Irene. In past books, Irene has painted Bertie’s room pink, had him wear pink pants, attend yoga sessions, learn Italian, play the saxophone, and undergo psychotherapy for no other reason than Bertie is a normal little boy for all his intelligence. (BTW, Irene had an sexual encounter with said psychotherapist during a session at a flotation tank. This resulted in the birth of Uylesses—Bertie is the only who notices that his little brother looks like his psychotherapist.).

As this book opens, Irene has run off to Aberdeen to study for a PhD and be with said psychotherapist. A taste of freedom for Bertie and his long-suffering and wimpy father Stuart, who may have found a new love. But will it last? Irene disappeared from their lives twice before in bizarre scenarios only to reappear—you see what I mean about the author recycling situations?

Other denizens of Scotland Street: Domenica (a cultural anthropologist ) and her husband Angus, a portrait painter. They have breakfast conversations discussing such topics as whether Scots share guilt for British imperialism or the artistic accomplishments of the Neanderthals. They have a little “adventure” when Angus and his dog Cyril discover what might be a Neanderthal skull. Cyril, by the way, finds it hard to resist the temptation to bite ankles. Cyril’s first person musings are featured in the series and I find them just plain silly.

Another story involves Matthew and his wife Elspeth who have a male au pair James who takes care of their triplet boys. The mild mannered Matthew is an art dealer who has recently invested in a neighborhood coffee bar run by Big Lou, a character who appears throughout the series. Matthew also helps James rescue the latter’s uncle, the self-styled Duke of Johannesburg, who has been kidnapped by his chauffeur and forced to learn Gaelic.

There is lots of humor and satire, poking fun at some modern craziness like putting warning labels on artworks in a museum. There is also a lot of boring writing just to fill space (all the books are from installments published in The Scotsman), and there is a lack of continuity. In a few chapters in this book, Matthew and Elspeth recall their honeymoon in a Jamaican hotel run by two eccentrics. But I remember reading in an one of the early books, that they honeymooned in Western Australia and Matthew almost died. Frankly, I really don’t care about most of the characters, but the books are fairly easy and light reading so I will probably read future entries in hopes that Bertie and Stuart will eventually be free of Irene.

[Laura Walin · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me the 44 Scotland Street series lost its charm in volume #13 which was pure mean towards Irene Pollock, the eccentric mother of Bertie and Ulysses, and wife of Stuart. Had I not borrowed this book already from the library, I might have given the series a (long) pause. Thus it was a relief that Irene was not dealt with much in this book. I honestly think that the author - in this genre which is supposed to be fun and light - should have a bit of empathy towards their protagonists.

Anyway, back to this one. The story meanders still effortlessly and the short stories published first in a newspaper develop into a novel. However, maybe this book had a few too many strings as I felt that none of the stories properly got to develop. Rather, they were just anecdotes in the pile of many. Furthermore, this book was unusually full of philosophical pondering, something that always cuts even a good story short.

[Tina Siegel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to love McCall Smith’s books. I really do. And this series is charming, in it’s way - a nostalgic, idealistic, overly-simple way, but still charming.

Unfortunately the narrative voice here sounds more and more like an annoyed old white man railing against political correctness. It feels like he wants credit for addressing difficult issues without actually engaging them, or maybe just a chance to air his grievances. So he touches on things like gender and feminism, but does it from a place of such unacknowledged privilege that it comes off as reactionary and ignorant.

Strange thing to say about writing that, at first glance, is very gentle. But there it is. I have no idea what McCall Smith’s socio-political worldview is and, based on this, I’m not sure I want to.

[Jenn Mattson · Rating 4 out of 5]

With one of the best titles in the history of titles, this book was a delightful return to 44 Scotland street. I didn’t realize the series was still going - since the last installment - #13 - seemed to wrap up some things, but came as a welcome distraction to listen to with my sis on our road trip to see A-ha. This time around, the author’s lovely insights and wisdom about life - and musings on temptations and promises - to always love and cherish someone, to be able to go to Glasgow, the promised land - were some of my favorites. It’s such a calming experience to listen to the fabulous reader and spend time with beloved book friends. I think the way this book ended in particular - Aw, Cyril, you are just the best! - might be my favorite yet!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruce you absolute asshole.

And I'm so glad that they rescued the Duke!

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant commentary on the Édimbourgeoisie. Bertie is one of the immortals of literature. Like “Oor Wullie” he never gets any older, still 7 after all these years!

Edinburgh is the best city in the world IMHO and during the Festival it is the centre of the universe! I had the privilege to live there for 9 years, had a student flat just round the corner from Scotland Street (not quite the New Town, me, but close).

Henderson’s may have closed and the medical school and Royal Infirmary moved to the wilderness but it’s reassuring to know Edinburgh is still Edinburgh.

The author hasn’t dealt with lockdown in this book but there must be a novel growing from this new challenge to Edinburgh life. Our castle has been besieged 26 times in its 1100 year history so no doubt a wee virus won’t destroy our capital city.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 14th book in the series featuring the residents of 44 Scotland Street and its environs in Edinburgh's New Town.
Matthew is trying to introduce some changes at Big Lou's cafe, of which he now has a controlling share; Bertie is offered the chance of a lifetime with an exchange visit to a school in Glasgow; Stuart's hopes of a new love in his life are dashed by the intervention of narcissistic Bruce; and Angus's dog Cyril is both hero and villain when he unearths a possibly Neanderthal skull in the local gardens but then blots his copybook by succumbing to the temptation of biting a party-goer's ankle.
Another excellent episode in this much-loved (as far as I am concerned) series and looking forward to reading more shortly! - 8.5/10.

[Jenny H · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was really disappointing. I've got the whole series and usually eagerly await the next instalment, but I regret buying this one and won't buy any more until I've got them from the library first.

1) There is too much waffle. The characters talk, the author muses, but very little actually happens and the conversations and the musings aren't that interesting. I skipped a lot of them.
2) There are too many beginnings that aren't followed up. The new inmates of No 44 that are introduced at such length at the beginning mostly never appear and the one we do see only washes the stair and turns up again with one of the flatmates in tow at Domenica's inevitable party. Pat has important news that we never hear any more of. Irene reappears briefly and then isn't seen again, even to leave, though we assume that she does.. Two of the Moray Place nudists have a rather dull conversation about their attempts to maintain Edinburgh dominance, but nothing comes of it. There are a couple of anecdotes about Matthew & Elspeth's honeymoon that only serve to show that it wasn't a very nice hotel and are clogged up with a lot of irrelevant and dull stuff about the genealogy of the hotel keepers
3) The inconsistencies that have been creeping in continue, most notably in the flashback to Matthew and Elspeth's honeymoon, which AMS has forgotten was in Australia and now places in Jamaica. The triplets are now settled at 3 years old, after switching backwards and forwards in the last book, but Bertie is still only 7 and Ulysses still a pre-verbal baby.
4) I know the characters and stories are meant to be OTT and fanciful, but suspension of disbelief is becoming strained even within that. What is that Italian nun doing away from her convent so long, with no visible means of support or apparent purpose? A nun might be sent on a sabbatical for educational purposes, or dispatched for a particular job, but they don't get open-ended holidays. How could a nice young woman in a serious relationship be so egregiously rude as to abandon the man she's out with in mid-date to go off with another? Nobody would do that to a friend, let alone a lover. And why would anybody trying to learn Gaelic think it would help to listen non-stop to Kenneth McKellar singing in English?

I'm afraid AMS has reached the end of the road with this series. It would be great if he could pick it up again, but he's apparently run out of inspiration and, I suspect, interest in it.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two words - pure pleasure. The next in the 44 Scotland Street Series, A Promise of Ankles is delightful and heartwarming, written in the beautiful unique prose of Alexander McCall Smith. No cliches here! Wit and humour envelop each story and character. The title is fetching (what a fun angle!) and a fascinating mystery is woven beautifully into the book. It feels like home, warm and comfy.

Dominica continues her research and editing and Angus continues his painting (can envision his attire!) while Cyril, the intelligent and curious dog, enjoys digging and contemplating; new neighbours move in; Stuart finds himself in an interesting position, while his mother is a...mother. Several other characters appear as well, new and those we know and love. I have many favourites but this time it was Bertie, Raynard and Cyril who captured my heart. The tie and "impossible" analyses are funny and brilliant! But oh, the honeymoon story! Quite relatable (I can laugh now, years later). Readers will also enjoy the mystery, pondering the perils of raising young triplets, relationship changes, kindness and love.

The author's way with words is magic. If you enjoy Alexander McCall Smith's other books, do read this. And for those of you who haven't yet, you're in for a sweet treat! My mom introduced me to the Number One Detective Agency books and I was hooked!

My sincere thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this lovely book in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated.

[Colin Forbes · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Scotland Street is a soap opera that I just can't give up on, even if at times it falls short of the joy of the earlier books.

A bit of an uneven collection of chapters this time. There is some marvellous gentle humour, but so many stories are touched upon and not concluded in any meaningful sense.

The authorial diversions onto random topics were sometimes so removed from the point of the story that I think AMS was just trying to make his word-count target for the chapter. I got used to skipping over many of them.

Bertie, as always, is a treasure, but characters like Irene and Pat deserved more space on the page too - even Bruce, who was reduced to a very brief cameo appearance in the unusually cruel end to to Stuart's romance.

On the positive side, it ended more strongly and coherently than it began. And who am I kidding? Of course I'll pick up the inevitable next book in the series.

[Daniel Shindler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alexander McCall Smith writes cozy and comfortable books. This installment of 44 Scotland Street is no exception. We again encounter all of our friends as their stories continue. This is a book where the plot is almost secondary to the meanderings and musings offered as we enjoy the peregrinations of the residents of 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh. Curl up in a chair and enjoy the thoughtful and sometimes arcane quirkiness of the characters that you will soon consider old friends.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing

I have so enjoyed most of the 44 Scotland Street books, and in some ways I also enjoyed this one. But the anti-Catholic lines were shocking and unnecessary. I'mm not talking about criticizing the actions of Catholics, but the mocking of beliefs. It's just sad.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it is always great to spend some time with the characters of 44 Scotland Street in the way that you might keep watching a long running soap to see what's going on, this was less engaging than some of the others.

Bertie gets to Glasgow
Stuart tries his luck with a new relationship
Matthew and James are concerned about the Duke of Johannesburg
The Italian nun hangs around a bit
Pat gets an offer she can't refuse

[Sarah Chappell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very sweet book and easy to read. But, this was the first book in the series I read, so, if you’re considering reading it, I would suggest to start at number 1 instead of 14!

[Stephanie Scagliotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

How I love these characters and stories. May it never end. I already look forward to what happens next.

[Elizabeth Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published 2020– (I listened to an audio version of this bk via St Paul Public Library.)

More about Matthew, Elspeth and family, Angus and Domenica, Stuart and Bertie and others connected to 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh. Listening was not as pleasurable as reading the other novels had been. Perhaps the charm is wearing off for me, or perhaps absorbing the audio doesn’t allow me to vary pace as I go. Still, there is some enjoyment.

Bertie is going to glasgow for a month. He is excited. He’s heard that Glasgow has “great crack” and he thinks this means great fun.

The dog Cyril is laying on the floor near his master looking at “two tartan-clad ankles” of a visitor.

“Ankles, for Cyril, were a major moral challenge—perhaps the only moral challenge with which he had to wrestle. A dog is never tempted by the challenge of disloyalty or betrayal. Such concepts are completely alien to the canine view of the world….

“What is a moral issue, for a dog, though, is the question of when it is legitimate to bite a human. An authorized bite is one thing, an unauthorized one is quite another….And yet ankles for a dog are a target so tempting that it is sometimes impossible to do anything but break the terms of that old social contract and sink one’s teeth into an irresistible ankle….The last time he had done that, giving Matthew a quick and hastily disengaged nip on the right ankle, he’d been immediately punished by Angus, but it was worth it.

“The sheer pleasure of biting somebody’s ankle is something of which many dogs can only dream, but Cyril…knew that it was every bit satisfying as it might be imagined to be.”

As in earlier vols., there are many digressions—philosophical or observational—along the way. The prospect of the triplets’ au pair leaving leads to discussion of Sigmund Freud’s patients, their treatments and results. Three characters talk about Neanderthal man and one of them, a museum researcher, muses about people’s lack of interest in the past. And more. And still more.

The author’s apparently conservative nature pokes through. In an aside he asserts that people who want the very rich to pay more in taxes it’s merely because they are jealous of what they rich have, not for any better reason.

There have been two villains in the series, both female. These are the two biggest nemeses. (Bruce is milder and has been less present in recent vols.) The woman and the girl are Stuart’s wife, Irene, and Bertie’s classmate, Olive. Irene, a negative stereotype of a feminist progressive, is very bossy, opinionated, self-centered, controlling. Even after moving away to Aberdeen, she’s still trying to dictate how the home life in E-burgh should be. Olive is a mean, bitchy girl who seems to like to torment Bertie. In this novel, apparently jealous of his upcoming adventure, she tells Bertie that in Glasgow he will be struck on the head by a hooligan the minute he gets off the train. I have wondered whether the author just dislikes women.

In terms of the recording, the narrator, Robert Ian MacKenzie, is a bit more stuffy than the tone of the writing deserves. For Angus he adopts a voice that just doesn’t work for me. I have always thought of Angus as a mild, easy-going fellow. Here he speaks with a very deep voice and careful slowness, as though he’s making weighty pronouncements. He comes off as a boring, somewhat arrogant know-it-all.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

My least favorite in the series. I felt the storylines were weak. But I still loved the characters.