The Peppermint Tea Chronicles by Alexander McCall Smith (44 Scotland Street #13)
Domenica Macdonald, anthropologist, resident of Scotland Street, and wife of Angus Lordie, portrait painter and longstanding member of the Scottish Arts Club, sat in the kitchen of her flat in Scotland Street.

A Promise of Ankles by Alexander McCall Smith (44 Scotland Street #14)
Standing at her kitchen window, Domenica Macdonald, cultural anthropologist, denizen of Scotland Street, citizen of Edinburgh, lowered the binoculars that for the last fifteen minutes she had trained on the street below.

The 44 Scotland Street series is my escapist reading. It is a charming literary soap opera where most things turn out well in the end. Some of the characters are annoying but I read the books, mainly, to find what has been happening to seven-year-old Bertie, Big Lou from Arbroath and Cyril the dog.

The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
‘Ah, don’t begin to fuss!’ wailed Kitty.

Set in England in 1916, The Return of the Soldier is the story of a shell-shocked officer, Christopher Baldry, who returns home suffering from amnesia. He cannot remember the last fifteen years of his life. He has forgotten that he is married and is keen to be reunited with his former sweetheart Margaret who, unbeknown to him, is now married. The story is told from the point of view of Baldry’s cousin, Jenny. The dilemma at the heart of the book is whether to leave Baldry in his oblivious state or to help him regain his memory; if he does, he will have to return to the front.

The novel was published in 1918 and is considered a masterpiece. I’m afraid it didn’t quite work for me. The naked upper-class contempt shown by Baldry’s wife, Kitty, and Jenny for working-class Margaret left me unable to muster much sympathy for Kitty and only a modicum for Jenny towards the end of the novel. I missed, too, much of the symbolism in the descriptions. Perhaps I was not in the right mood for the book and will, at a later date, re-read it.

I did watch the 1982 film adaptation of the novel which has a wonderful cast: Alan Bates, Julie Christie, Glenda Jackson, Ann-Margret and Ian Holm. It is a reasonably faithful adaptation but, of course, some of the story is left out. The film is beautiful to watch and haunting in the way the book was not for me. This is an excellent review of the film. I would definitely recommend watching it – I found it on Prime Video but it may be available elsewhere.