Espresso Tales - Alexander Hanchett Smith [0]
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 condescension 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