''At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances'' is a book by Scottish author and academic
Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law an ...
, relating further matters in the life of the main character,
Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld.
Plot
The Professor is a troubled German academic whose life's achievement is the (fictional) book, ''
Portuguese Irregular Verbs
''Portuguese Irregular Verbs'' is a short comic novel by Alexander McCall Smith, and the first of McCall Smith's series of novels featuring Professor Dr von Igelfeld. It was first published in 1997. Some consider the book to be a series of con ...
''. The book relates details of von Igelfeld's troubled relationships with the other major characters of the book series, Professor Dr Dr (''
honoris causa'')
Florianus Prinzel and Professor Dr
Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer, who work at the fictional
Institute of Romance Philology at
Regensburg, Germany.
The book consists of two longer stories. In the first story, ''On Being Light Blue'' von Igelfeld's birthday wish leads him to a four-month stint at
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
where he is nonplussed by the eccentric English academics and their constant infighting. In the second story, ''The Villa of Reduced Circumstances,'' von Igelfeld unwittingly becomes embroiled in a military coup in Colombia after being invited there to receive an academic award.
Book series
This is one book of a series:
* ''
Portuguese Irregular Verbs
''Portuguese Irregular Verbs'' is a short comic novel by Alexander McCall Smith, and the first of McCall Smith's series of novels featuring Professor Dr von Igelfeld. It was first published in 1997. Some consider the book to be a series of con ...
'' (1997)
* ''
The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs'' (2003)
* ''At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances'' (2003)
* ''
Unusual Uses for Olive Oil'' (2011)
External links
Author's page at Random House publishers
{{DEFAULTSORT:At The Villa Of Reduced Circumstances
The 2½ Pillars of Wisdom
2003 British novels
Novels set in Germany
Polygon Books books