Meanwhile, upstairs at 44 Scotland Street, Bertie’s father Stuart is powerless to stop over-bearing Irene and her motion for Bertie to travel to Aberdeen on a three-month secondment. This series won two major cross-media awards - Association of Online Publishers Digital Publishing Award 2009 for a Cross Media Project and the New Media Age award. He is dismayed that he will be absent from his friends, schoolmates, loving grandmother, and weak-willed father, whom he adores. His regular shoes – described by Domenica as his daily boots – were a pair of brown brogues made by the Northampton shoe-maker, Joseph Cheaney. As always, many topics are mulled over or discussed: expert knowledge vs pretentiousness; the Dunbar Number of close friends; social climbers; guilt over the amount of water needed to produce coffee.

The story ends with the annual neighborhood party thrown by Angus and Domenica, where Angus reads his original poem about love. The latest entry in AMS’s 44 Scotland Street series finds Irene raising her ugly head and wanting Bertie to spend 3 months with her in Aberdeen where she is pursuing her PhD in psychology. On the bright side, Sister Maria-Flore dei Fiori de Montagna - the aphorism spouting, social climbing nun - has been appointed to the panel of judges of the Turner Prize.Meanwhile, Angus Lordie expresses his appreciation of the bespoke Lobb brogues he inherited from his father, while Domenica comments on Belgian indoor shoes and the fashion for knee-ripped jeans and low-slung trousers that expose underwear. The English shoes of which he was proudest were a pair of black brogues, made of soft and supple leather, and bought by his father from the London firm of John Lobb.

Warm hearted, humorous and wonderfully wise, Love in the Time of Bertie offers philosophical insight as well as sartorial elegance. and I would like not to think that we were still in the seventeenth century, as divided amongst ourselves as they were at that time, pitted against each other, with one vision of the good battling another, and people despising others for their opinions. Things work out nicely not at all like I'd expected it to and it'll be interesting to see how these new storylines play out in the next book. He gives me hope for the future all these kids bring raised and taught by the PC culture and he's having none of it.sees publication of three new novels which fall into this area: 'The Forever Girl'; 'Fatty O’Leary’s Dinner Party'; and 'Emma' – a reworking of the classic Jane Austen novel. In the microcosm of 44 Scotland Street, all of life’s richness is found in the glorious goings-on of its residents.