Proud to be part of a serial success

Published on Thursday 7 February 2008 20:45

IN JANUARY 2004, The Scotsman revived an old newspaper tradition that had disappeared in Britain and the rest of the world – the serial novel. This was the literary form that had made Charles Dickens famous, but – sadly – seemed to have disappeared from modern life. To find the first serial novel of the 21st century, The Scotsman did not have to stray far from home – we chose 44 Scotland Street, authored in 100 chapters over six months by the incomparable Alexander McCall Smith.

A serial novel – especially one published in a daily newspaper – is not the easiest thing to write. It needs not just the usual ingredients of plot and character, but it has to send people out every morning to buy The Scotsman. It is a tribute to McCall Smith's genius that not only did he revive – single-handedly – the serial novel, but that when published in book form people have gone on to buy 44 Scotland Street and its successors in significant numbers.

The Scotsman is therefore very proud to report that Alexander McCall Smith's Love Over Scotland – serialised in this paper in 2006 – was the single most borrowed book in Scottish libraries last year. The Scotsman is dedicated not just to reporting the news and informing the nation, but also in promoting the very best in Scottish writing. In Alexander McCall Smith we have just that.