Corduroy mansions
By: Alexander McCall Smith ; illustrations by Iain McIntosh.
Contributors: McIntosh, Iain.
Edition: 1st U.S. ed.
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 353
ISBN-13: 9780307379085
Subjects: Pimlico (London, England) -- Fiction
Genres: Fiction
Description: 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.