‘I’ve a room lined with my books’
Author Alexander McCall Smith tells Angela Wintle about his love for Edinburgh
Alexander McCall Smith, 75, is the author of the highly successful No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, which has sold more than 25m copies. His other books include the 44
Scotland Street novels, the Isabel Dalhousie novels, the Von Igelfeld series and the Corduroy Mansions novels.
He bought his first flat in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, in the late 1970s. After his marriage, he and his wife, Elizabeth, with whom he has two daughters, moved to a flat in the New Town area of the city.
For the past 38 years they have lived in Merchiston, on the south-west side of Edinburgh. They also own a house in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland, and a group of uninhabited islands in the Hebrides.
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO YOUR HOME?
It’s a lovely five-bedroom, late-Victorian house on a quiet tree-lined street. It’s also conveniently located – a 10-minute walk from Bruntsfield, a wonderful little shopping area.
Like many of these places, it was divided into two in the 1950s and, initially, we bought the top two floors – known in Edinburgh parlance as a “double upper”. Later, we bought the ground floor and turned it into a single house. The conversion had been done well, so we didn’t have to create a new stairway. We did have to remove internal walls, however, and pulled out a scullery at the back to create a nice morning room – to catch the first sun rays of the day – and kitchen.
The house is C-listed [the equivalent of a Grade II listing] so we had to take great care to preserve the geometry of the building. The morning room opens out on to our walled garden.
WHAT’S THE HISTORY OF THE HOUSE?
It was previously owned by the wellknown Edinburgh fireplace manufacturer Thomas Bogie, whose designs are to be found throughout the city. Before Bogie, the house had been the wonderfully named “Edinburgh Home for Babies and School of Mothercraft”, generally known, in the non-PC terminology of the time, as a home for fallen women. The unmarried mothers had their babies there, and as the children playing in the front garden had to be protected, the house didn’t lose its magnificent iron railings to make Spitfires during the war.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE ROOM? I’m very fond of my study and library, which is lined with books right up to the ceiling. I have a nice working library, which is strong on philosophy, literature and poetry, particularly the works of WH Auden. I’m a great fan of Auden’s poetry; he has the most wonderful, humane voice. I write five or six books a year, so I follow a strict routine. I get up by 6am every day and write 1,500 words before breakfast. I also work in the evenings. Afternoons are a good time for a siesta.
Beyond the study is another booklined room where I keep the English and foreign language editions of my books. I have written more than 100 books, which have been translated into 46 languages. My publishers tell me I’ve sold about 30m copies worldwide.
WHY DOES EDINBURGH ATTRACT WRITERS?
It is a place where the imagination seems to thrive. There is something in the air here, something in the light.
The crime writer Ian Rankin, who is a good friend, used to live two doors away. I looked out into his garden.
JK Rowling lived around the corner at one time. Romantic novelist Jenny Colgan also lives nearby and arranges regular writers’ get-togethers over lunch.
HAVE YOU MADE MANY CHANGES TO YOUR GARDEN?
My wife and I aren’t the most skilled gardeners, so we engaged the services of a garden designer some years ago. Out came lots of concrete; in came real stone and winding paths. We now entrust the garden to a former miner who wisely invested his redundancy money in a horticultural course. He makes a great job of tending it.
We have a greenhouse where we grow tomatoes, and a “sitooterie”– a lovely Scots expression – where we relax. A fox visits the garden regularly. I see him eating the mealworms I put out for the blackbirds. He makes an appearance in my Isabel Dalhousie novels as Brother Fox and he has a lot of followers.
DO YOU HAVE A SECOND HOME? We have a house in a very remote part of Argyll. It’s at the foot of a mountain, opposite a sea loch. At high tide, the water is just 30ft from the front door. It rains constantly but I don’t mind because it’s a beautiful spot. Eagles fly over the house and there are otters in the fields.
Our house is powered by solar panels. We have 11 on the roof and another 90 ground-mounted panels tucked away in a hollow. They power the deep, ground-source heat pumps in the house.
We also have a garden, although the vegetable garden has to be fenced off to protect it from deer. I’m very proud of my garlic. The rain, in conjunction with our seaweed manure, produces massive and beautiful bulbs.
DO YOU ENJOY BOATING?
I love messing about in boats. I took up sailing 15 years ago. We have a mooring out on the loch, so we pop over to Tobermory on the Isle of Mull to do our shopping. I also own a cruiser and love sailing out to the island of Muck in the Inner Hebrides. We like visiting Canna, too, the westernmost of the Small Isles archipelago. We lay anchor and make a beeline for a little cafe on the island that serves fresh seafood.
I’m also fortunate in owning a small group of uninhabited islands in the Hebrides called the Cairns of Coll. They are beautiful and populated by seabirds and seals. My aim is to look after them for people to enjoy. If you have a boat, you are welcome to go.
The Private Life of Spies (Abacus, £16.99) and The Perfect Passion Company (Polygon, £18.99) by Alexander McCall Smith are out now
‘I’m fortunate in owning a small group of islands. If you have a boat, you are welcome to go’