Listen "Alexander McCall Smith"
Episode Synopsis
International bestseller Sir Alexander McCall Smith joines James Crawford to discuss The Private Side of Friendship, and shares the literary works that influenced it.After the acclaim of his his The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Sandy has written over a hundred books, selling tens of millions of copies in English alone – not to mention the 46 other languages in which his work has appeared. In his latest novel, he is taking readers to a city he knows very well, as six young Edinburgh students embark on a flatshare, and navigate new friendships, against the backdrop of the social unrest of the 1980s miners’ strikes.For his three influences Sandy chose: The More Loving One by W.H. Auden (1957), Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships by Robin Dunbar (2021), and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (2011). Including an extract from the audiobook of Friends by Robin Dunbar, published by Hachette.Producer: Caitlin Sneddon
Editor: Gillian WheelanThis is a BBC Audio Scotland production.
Editor: Gillian WheelanThis is a BBC Audio Scotland production.
More episodes of the podcast Take Four Books
Karl Ove Knausgaard
23/11/2025
Olga Ravn
16/11/2025
Katherine Rundell
09/11/2025
Chris Kraus
26/10/2025
Philippa Gregory
19/10/2025
John Banville
12/10/2025
William Boyd
28/09/2025
Graham Norton
21/09/2025
Ian McEwan
14/09/2025
Melissa Lucashenko
31/08/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.