Big News!
Alexander McCall Smith is to guest on BBC Radio 4’s Take Four Books this weekend, 30 November 2025, talking about his latest (and already much loved) stand-alone novel The Private Side of Friendship and with reference of course to No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Previous guests on the programme include Karl Ove Knausgaard, Katherine Rundell, Chris Kraus, Philippa Gregory, John Banville, William Boyd, Ian McEwan and many more. All available to listen to online now.
The programme was recorded yesterday for BBC Radio 4 – and James Crawford, the presenter of the programme, said it went very well indeed. It should be broadcast this Sunday coming, 30 November, but watch this space for 100% confirmation of date and time. Listen in to be one of the one million listeners tuning in live. Streams and downloads on BBC Sounds bring in around a further 45 thousand listeners.
What the media are saying about this book:
A far cry from Merchiston…
Pushing into new territory – but not too far. It’s whole subject is the apprenticeship for adulthood that studenthood so often represents: that specific time when childhood friendships start to fade and new ones form; when one can feel loneliness in a crowded flat or lecture hall. This whole process of change is neatly mirrored in what is happening in the country at large, as glimpsed in the Armadale miners’ rally… [a] typically thoughtful and entertaining novel’– David Robinson, The Scotsman
Make sure to tune in to Take Four Books on BBC Sounds
