The Private Side of Friendship: A Standalone Novel

by Alexander McCall Smith

Featured on BBC Radio 4's Take Four Books Six friends. One city. The time of their lives.

It's 1988, and on the verge of a reunion with friends she hasn't seen since graduation, Julie recalls her halcyon student days of 1984 and the strange tumultuous time they lived through.

The friends – each from a very different background – are living in a gorgeous terraced flat in their Edinburgh idyll. As they navigate relationships and the unspoken rules of flat sharing, the troubled world all around them seems rather distant. But in the nearby hometown of one of the flatmates, the Miners' Strike is bringing about a huge political shift.

Despite their differences, can these six strangers help each other see the world from a different perspective? Is there such a thing as being too close? And what are the limits of love between friends?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

252 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 2, 2025

About the author

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland. Visit him online at www.alexandermccallsmith.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Reviews

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Rounded up.

[Georgia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Extremely trite, absolutely no emotional depth or message as far as I could tell. Am baffled by the good reviews.

[Julie Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book. A gentle read very typical of A McC Smith.

[Ronald Schoedel III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gently philosophical, subtly emotional, imminently relatable. All this set in beautifully described, always elegant Edinburgh and Scotland. This has become probably my favourite of Sir Alexander’s standalone novels.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Private Side of Friendship sees us travel back to 1980s Edinburgh when a group of six University students share a large tenement flat. As is often the case for uni students, they didn’t know each other before moving in so the book is as much about them getting to know each other as it is for the reader getting to know the characters. They come from different places and have very different backgrounds which made for some really interesting situations and conversations.

There are tensions around the miners’ strike with one of the group coming from a mining town to the west of Edinburgh. Scotland’s feelings around the prime minister and government of the time are explored and let’s just say they are not favourable which, from experience, I can confirm is entirely accurate!

If you are looking for a book with lots going on, this isn’t the book for you. If however, you are looking for a gentle read with an insightful look at friendships established during what is for many people a formative stage of their lives, then give The Private Side of Friendship a try. It will be sure to please fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s warm, amusing style of writing.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gentle read to start the year, perfectly pleasant but didn’t wow me. I enjoyed the descriptions of Edinburgh and I could hear the author’s voice as I read, since I had attended an event a month earlier. There was something in the writing that made it obvious that a much older person was trying to remember what it felt like to be that age.

[Lily-Anne Reynolds-Hume · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️
I loved it sooooo much but I just wish the first half was as good as the second!

[Lynne - The Book Squirrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this story!