Author: McCall Smith, Alexander

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Published on 6 August 2026 by Birlinn General (Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 288 pages
145 x 224 x 30 | 412g

To find out where we are going, we sometimes need to find out where we came from.

Sister Maria-Fiore dei Fiori Montagna, who is suffering from an acute identity crisis, wants to know more about her own past, and after doing a DNA test, she discovers that she has a relative she didn’t know about. But her new-found family causes a rift between her and her flatmate, Antonia Collie. Can they work out their differences?For Bruce, it’s a case of history repeating itself. After getting all the attention he craves landing a starring role in a new television series the universe has one way of putting him in his place. Even in a modern Scotland, lurking Calvinist tendencies might still strike.

And Bertie’s dream of getting to the promised land the Dear Green Place comes crashing down as he learns that he is to move to the far North East, leaving poor Ranald Braveheart Macpherson a little heartbroken and lost. But upon his return to Edinburgh, the boys take a trip to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and Bertie’s kindness gets a very royal recognition.