The Lost Language of Oysters

The latest book in Alexander McCall Smith's entertaining and hilarious Professor von Igelfeld series'It's impossible not to root for von Igelfeld' Scotsman'A charming tale of academic rivalry and ill-fated infatuation... marvellous' Scottish FieldProfessor Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld is not just any German professor - he is the author of that great work of scholarship, Portuguese Irregular Verbs. His eminence in language studies is widely recognised, even if it is rarely acknowledged by his colleague, Professor Detlev-Amadeus Unterholzer, author of a much less important work on the subjunctive.

Their rivalry bubbles away under the surface, but is apt to come into the open if something unusual disturbs the calm waters of the institute in Regensburg in which they both work. One such event is the entrance from New Orleans of two visiting scholars, Professor Pom Pom Boisseau and Professor Alice Martinique, Provencal language experts who arrive on large, noisy motorbikes...