Corduroy Mansions (Corduroy Mansions Series #1)

by Alexander McCall Smith

Overview

CORDUROY MANSIONS - Book 1

In the Corduroy Mansions series of novels, set in London’s hip Pimlico neighborhood, we meet a cast of charming eccentrics, including perhaps the world’s most clever terrier, who make their home in a handsome, though slightly dilapidated, apartment block. 

Corduroy Mansions is the affectionate nickname given to a genteel, crumbling mansion block in London’s vibrant Pimlico neighborhood and the home turf of a captivating collection of quirky and altogether McCall-Smithian characters. There’s the middle-aged wine merchant William, who’s trying to convince his reluctant twenty-four-year-old son, Eddie, to leave the nest; and Marcia, the boutique caterer who has her sights set on William. There’s also the (justifiably) much-loathed Member of Parliament Oedipus Snark; his mother, Berthea, who’s writing his biography and hating every minute of it; and his long-suffering girlfriend, Barbara, a literary agent who would like to be his wife (but, then, she’d like to be almost anyone’s wife). There’s the vitamin evangelist, the psychoanalyst, the art student with a puzzling boyfriend and Freddie de la Hay, the Pimlico terrier who insists on wearing a seat belt and is almost certainly the only avowed vegetarian canine in London.
 
Filled with the ins and outs of neighborliness in all its unexpected variations, Corduroy Mansions showcases the life, laughter and humanity that have become the hallmarks of Alexander McCall Smith’s work. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307476500
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/31/2011
Series:	Corduroy Mansions Series , #1
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	234,010
Product dimensions:	7.84(w) x 5.26(h) x 0.84(d)

About the Author

ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH is the author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, the 44 Scotland Street series, and the Corduroy Mansions series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served with many national and international organizations concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland. Visit his website at www.alexandermccallsmith.com.

 

Hometown:

Edinburgh, Scotland

Date of Birth:

August 24, 1948

Place of Birth:

Zimbabwe

Website:

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/mccallsmith/index.html

Read an Excerpt

1. In the Bathroom

Passing off, thought William. Spanish sparkling wine—filthy stuff, he thought, filthy—passed itself off as champagne. Japanese whisky—Glen Yakomoto!—was served as Scotch. Inferior hard cheese—from Mafia-run factories in Catania—was sold to the unsuspecting as Parmesan.

Lots of things were passed off in one way or another, and now, as he stood before the bathroom mirror, he wondered if he could be passed off too. He looked at himself, or such part of himself as the small mirror encompassed-just his face, really, and a bit of neck. It was a fifty-one-year-old face chronologically, but would it pass, he wondered, for a forty-something-year-old face?

He looked more closely: there were lines around the eyes and at the edge of the mouth but the cheeks were smooth enough. He pulled at the skin around the eyes and the lines disappeared. There were doctors who could do that for you, of course: tighten things up; nip and tuck. But the results, he thought, were usually risible. He had a customer who had gone off to some clinic and come back with a face like a Noh-play mask-all smoothed out and flat. It was sad, really. And as for male wigs, with their stark, obvious hairlines, all one wanted to do was to reach forward and give them a tug. It was quite hard to resist, actually, and once, as a student-and when drunk-he had done just that. He had tugged at the wig of a man in a bar and . . . the man had cried. He still felt ashamed of himself for that. Best not to think about it.

No, he was weathering well enough and it was far more dignified to let nature take its course, to weather in a National Trust sort of way. He looked again at his face. Not bad. The sort of face, he thought, that would be hard to describe on the Wanted poster, if he were ever to do anything to merit the attention of the police-which he had not, of course. Apart from the usual sort of thing that made a criminal of everybody: "Wanted for illegal parking," he muttered. "William Edward French (51). Average height, very slightly overweight (if you don't mind our saying so), no distinguishing features. Not dangerous, but approach with caution."

He smiled. And if I were to describe myself in one of those lonely hearts ads? Wine dealer, widower, solvent, late forties-ish, GSOH, reasonable shape, interested in music, dining out etc., etc., WLTM presentable, lively woman with view to LTR.

That would be about it. Of course one had to be careful about the choice of words in these things; there were codes, and one might not be aware of them. "Solvent" was clear enough: it meant that one had sufficient money to be comfortable, and that was true enough. He would not describe himself as well off, but he was certainly solvent. "Well off," he had read somewhere, now meant disposable assets of over . . . how much? More than he had, he suspected.

And "reasonable shape"? Well, if that was not strictly speaking true at present, it would be shortly. William had joined a gym and been allocated a personal trainer. If his shape at present was not ideal, it soon would be, once the personal trainer had worked on him. It would take a month or two, he thought, not much more than that. So perhaps one might say, shortly to be in reasonable shape.

Now, what about: would like to meet presentable, lively woman. Well, presentable was a pretty low requirement. Virtually anybody could be presentable if they made at least some effort. Lively was another matter. One would have to be careful about lively because it could possibly be code for insatiable, and that would not do. Who would want to meet an insatiable woman? My son, thought William suddenly. That's exactly the sort of woman Eddie would want to meet. The thought depressed him.

William lived with his son. There had been several broad hints dropped that Eddie might care to move out and share with other twenty- somethings, and recently a friend of Eddie's had even asked him if he wanted to move into a shared flat, but these hints had apparently fallen on unreceptive ground. "It's quite an adventure, Eddie," William said. "Everybody at your stage of life shares a flat. Like those girls downstairs. Look at the fun they have. Most people do it."

"You didn't."

William sighed. "My circumstances, Eddie, were a bit different."

"You lived with Grandpa until he snuffed it."

"Precisely. But I had to, don't you see? I couldn't leave him to look after himself."

"But I could live with you until you snuff it."

"That's very kind of you. But I'm not planning to snuff it just yet."

Then there had been an offer to help with a mortgage—to pay the deposit on a flat in Kentish Town. William had even gone so far as to contact an agent and find a place that sounded suitable. He had looked at it without telling Eddie, meeting the agent one afternoon and being shown round while a litany of the flat's—and the area's—advantages was recited.

William had been puzzled. "But it doesn't appear to have a kitchen," he pointed out.

The agent was silent for a moment. "Not as such," he conceded. "No. That's correct. But there's a place for a sink and you can see where the cooker used to be. So that's the kitchen space. Nowadays people think in terms of a kitchen space. The old concept of a separate kitchen is not so important. People see past a kitchen."

In spite of the drawbacks, William had suggested that Eddie should look at the place and had then made his proposition. He would give him the deposit and guarantee the mortgage.

"Your own place," he said. "It's ideal."

Eddie looked doubtful. "But it hasn't got a kitchen, Dad. You said so. No kitchen."

William took this in his stride. "It has a kitchen space, Eddie. People see past an actual kitchen these days. Didn't you know that?"

But Eddie was not to be moved. "It's kind of you, Dad. I appreciate the offer, but I think it's premature. I'm actually quite comfortable living at home. And it's greener, isn't it? Sharing. It makes our carbon footprint much smaller."

And so William found himself living with his twenty-four-year-old son. Wine dealer, he thought, would like his son to meet a lively woman with view to his moving in with her. Permanently. Any area.

He turned away from the bathroom mirror and stooped down to run his morning bath. It was a Friday, which meant that he would open the business half an hour late, at ten-thirty rather than ten. This meant that he could have his bath and then his breakfast in a more leisurely way, lingering over his boiled egg and newspaper before setting off; a small treat, but a valued one.

There was a knocking on the door, soft at first and then more insistent.

"You're taking ages, Dad. What are you doing in there?"

He did not reply.

"Dad? Would you mind hurrying up? Or do you want me to be late?"

William turned and faced the door. He stuck out his tongue.

"Don't be so childish," came the voice from the other side of the door.

Childish? thought William. Well, you've got a little surprise coming your way, Eddie, my boy.

Reading Group Guide

The debut novel in a new series first published online as chapters in The Daily Telegraph, Corduroy Mansions sees Alexander McCall Smith leave Botswana and Edinburgh behind, and alight in a delightful London setting with a fresh cast of characters.

Corduroy Mansions is the affectionate nickname given a genteel, crumbling mansion block in London’s vibrant Pimlico neighborhood. Among the colorful characters who call the aging building home is wine merchant William, who is trying to convince his reluctant twenty-four-year-old son, Eddie, to leave the nest. William (along with Eddie) is getting more than enough encouragement from Marcia, the boutique caterer who has set her sights on the father. But William’s heart goes to his new part-time pet, Freddie de la Hay, a terrier who insists on wearing a seat belt and is almost certainly the only vegetarian canine in London.

In the flat below William live four young women, one of whom, Caroline, is studying for a master’s degree at Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Caroline is fond of her classmate James, who likes Caroline a great deal, but is unsure as to what his real proclivities are. Caroline’s roommate, Dee, runs a vitamin and health food shop, and is convinced of the virtues of colonic irrigation.

A third roommate, Jenny, works for the loathed Member of Parliament Oedipus Snark. Snark is so despicable that his own mother, Berthea, is writing a scathing unauthorized biography of him—that is when she is not busy watching out for her eccentric brother Terence, who is currently studying a type of mystical Bulgarian sacred dance.

In the bottom flat of Corduroy Mansions, Jenny befriends Mr. Basil Wickramsinghe, the polite but mysterious tenant who may or may not be into something illicit with the anemic Miss Oiseau.

As the story goes on, we meet more residents and the people with whom they are connected. Together they fill Corduroy Mansions with Alexander McCall Smith’s specific brand of wit and humor.

1. This book was originally published online in serialized chapters. Do you find it flows differently than other novels by Alexander McCall Smith? If so, how?

2. Alexander McCall Smith said of Corduroy Mansions: “These stories are character-based: what interests me is what makes the characters tick rather than intricate and potentially confusing plots.” Pick your favorite character and explain what you think makes him or her tick.

3. Freddie de la Hay is given as much personality as the humans in this story, yet his previous owner only refers to him as a social experiment. What do you think about training a dog to wear a seat belt and be a vegetarian?

4. Which of the characters do you most identify with? Is this also your favorite character?

5. Marcia seems to be manipulating William’s living situation to fit her needs. Is this because she is lonely? Does she have William’s best interest at heart?

6. Eddie is not a positive character in this story. How much of Eddie’s behavior appears to be typical of an early-twenty-something? Are William’s opinions guided too much by Marcia? What is your opinion of Eddie by the end of the book?

7. The problem of the Poussin painting garners different reactions from the characters involved with it. William sees a moral quandary in dealing with his son. Marcia doesn’t even think of the moral implications. What would you do if you were William?

8. Caroline wishes to help James discover the truth behind his proclivities, but she also wants to date him. Do you think Caroline is more self-interested or more altruistic?

9. As Jenny leaves Basil Wickramsinghe’s apartment, she overhears his visitor asking if Jenny is “a sympathiser.” What could this mean? Do you think he is involved in an illegal activity?

10. Jenny works for the odious Oedipus Snark. The MP clearly does not treat her well, nor any other woman with whom he interacts. Why do you think Jenny works for him? Why does Barbara Ragg stay with Snark?

11. Oedipus seems a little too interested in Barbara’s new book. What would he do with the tale of a Yeti? How would public reaction to the announcement of finding a Yeti help his career?

12. Berthea Snark is writing a distinctly non-hagiography of her son. What does this say about her as a mother? Why do you think she’s doing it? Why do you think she named him Oedipus?

13. Terence Moongrove is a bit absentminded. Does his sister, Berthea, overreact to his eccentricities, or is she simply protecting him? What could they learn from each other?

14. Barbara Ragg’s new beau seems too good to be true. Do you trust Hugh? How is your opinion of Hugh influenced by Barbara’s previous poor instincts with men?

15. Many of the characters in this book have feelings of loneliness. Name one and explain what his or her loneliness has driven that person to do. Who finds a way to dispel the feeling, and how is it done?

(For a complete list of available reading group guides, and to sign up for the Reading Group Center enewsletter, visit: www.readinggroupcenter.com.)

Editorial Reviews

"[McCall Smith] returns with a new cast of characters to love . . . fans will be grateful that the series has just begun. A-"
—Entertainment Weekly

"Filled with charming eccentrics . . . McCall Smith, a master of weaving the many strands of his complex stories together, does so here with supreme virtuosity."
—The Washington Post

The indefatigable Scotsman's latest exercise in grace and good manners . . . McCall Smith is the P.G. Wodehouse of our time, and we should be grateful for his prolificacy."
—Richmond Times-Dispatch

"As ever, McCall Smith is droll, philosophical, full of original insights, and above all, entertaining."
—Bookreporter

Praise from the United Kingdom
 
“Quirky and original . . . Told with warmth, wit and intelligence, and McCall Smith’s cast of characters are beautifully observed. It’s a page-turner with many happy endings. Perfect.”
—Daily Express
 
“The author’s gentle humor and playful teasing-out of moral dilemmas great and small are there in abundance.”
—The Scotsman
 
“[Full] of warmth and wisdom and easy, accomplished writing that begs for a comfy chair.”
—The Times (London)
 
“The seriousness is always sugar-dusted in McCall Smith’s delight in the ridiculous and his perfectly paced humour.”
—The Daily Telegraph

From the Publisher

…a delicious story that seems part Restoration comedy and part Victorian novel, tossed with a dash of mystery and a dollop of satire…McCall Smith, a master of weaving the many strands of his complex stories together, does so here with supreme virtuosity. He satirizes the manners and mores of his characters and their society but, as always, remains deeply affectionate toward his flawed cast. And so, Dear Reader, will you.
—The Washington Post

Eugenia Zukerman

McCall Smith's latest is cut from the same cloth as the 44 Scotland Street series and follows the residents of a three-story Pimlico flat. William, a wine merchant, is a London Angus Lordy, both philosophical and innocent in regard to the ways of women. Freddy de la Hay, a "Pimlico Terrier," is a smaller version of Angus's dog, Cyril. As in all McCall Smith's series, most characters are kind, if a bit befuddled by the curves life throws them. The talented Simon Prebble narrates the vignettes with vigorous aplomb. In particular, he captures parliamentary member Oedipus Snark's innate nastiness, William's altruistic temperament, and his friend Marcia's hopeless attachment to him. Though the characters are less well individualized than in previous series, there are still many mirthful moments that will entertain McCall Smith fans. A Pantheon hardcover (Reviews, May 24). (July)

Publishers Weekly