The Enigma of Garlic: A 44 Scotland Street Novel

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Seven-year-old Bertie continues to embody goodness, often to his detriment. He attends a summer camp with his friend, Randall Braveheart MacPherson, where Olive and Pansy continue tormenting them. Olive insists that Bertie's future will include his marriage to her. Bertie fears his fate will be connected with the alignment of the stars and planets and will doom him to such a dreaded marriage. He gets in trouble when Olive endangers the group on a hike. She blames Bertie, who accepts the blame. He still regards Glasgow as a joyful promised land where he would be free of restrictions and Olive.

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The Enigma Of Garlic is the sixteenth book in the popular 44 Scotland Street Series by Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith. The reader is, once again, brought up to date on the lives of our favourite Edinburgh residents. to a sleepaway camp—a most unappealing proposition. She also manages to come between the enigmatic nun, Sister Maria-Fiore dei Fiori di Montagna, and her dear friend, Antonia Collie.I always like these books, but this one seemed unfinished …stories not as fleshed out or left at the beginning ..mainly, Irene! ..and there are touches of Bruce’s old self peeking through ..it will be a long wait, again!

The Enigma of Garlic (Jul 01, 2023 edition) | Open Library The Enigma of Garlic (Jul 01, 2023 edition) | Open Library

Little does Bertie know that his horrible mother, Irene, has returned to Edinburgh. She claims she has changed for the better. Her affair with the psychiatrist has ended. Bertie's father, Stuart, once under the domination of Irene, is now under his mother's control. His mother forbids Irene to stay in the family home. Has Irene possibly changed, and how will Bertie react to her return? Bertie was composed of goodness, and sometimes goodness means that you take the blame for things you haven’t done. You accept it. You bear it. And he had borne so much in his brief seven years that a little more would not make much difference.” As for Bruce, I am left wondering how long this new persona will last. Not to be too much of a pessimist, and I do believe people can change, but … really?? When you are with somebody you love the smallest, smallest things can be so important, so amusing because love transforms the world, everything. And was that what had happened?

I enjoyed this light novel but it is the lowest ranking I've ever given one of the Scotland Street series. A couple of the characters have had such changes in personality that I couldn't quite recognize them (okay, Bruce's was explained by a lightning strike but Irene's was just presented to the reader). Bertie and Ranald are dismayed to find they can’t even escape Olive and Pansy at summer camp: “He felt that there was some cosmic plan that meant that he would never be completely free of Olive’s influence. Perhaps she was right when she said that he would, in due course, have to marry her; perhaps that was his unavoidable destiny, decreed by some indifferent Fate somewhere, perhaps even by the planets in their unchangeable rotations. If that was the case, his only hope, he had decided, was to make good his escape to Glasgow.” Poor Bertie!

The Enigma of Garlic by Alexander McCall Smith | Waterstones

Ok. AMcS. I need a little word with you. I love these books and I have become increasingly fond of several of the characters and three of them Bertie , Big Lou and Cyril the dog aren’t particularly well served in this instalment. And frankly I felt was all a bit rushed.

Can we really believe that both Bruce and Irene have reformed into more humble, reasonable human beings? At least Olive is still as odious as ever! But poor Bertie. I hope he stands up to her before too long. At least he has his friend Ranald and the prospect of Glasgow to look forward to. A collective sigh of relief must have been heard from many readers lips when she left Scotland Street.