Your Inner Hedgehog: A Professor Dr von Igelfeld Entertainment

Your Inner Hedgehog is the fifth book in the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series by best-selling Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith. When the newly-appointed Deputy Librarian at the Institute of Romance Philology (University of Regensburg), Dr. Hilda Schreiber-Ziegler removes from the library shelves (in the interest of creating more space) twenty-one of twenty-two copies of Portuguese Irregular Verbs (1200 pages each), and consigns them to a box in the storage room marked “Surplus to requirements. Probably valueless”, the mild-mannered Librarian, Herr Huber knows he has to act. This seminal volume, much respected in philology circles, is the work of one of the Institute’s full professors, Professor Dr Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, and such an insult cannot go unchallenged. But, having already been excluded from the Senior Coffee Room, Dr Schreiber-Ziegler is unmoved; she will take it up with the Rector, maintaining she is challenging the outdated patriarchy, questioning assumptions of superiority made on the slenderest of grounds. When the Rector learns, through this issue, that the Institute has no Director, being instead run on a consensus basis, he insists on one being elected, determined to stamp out elitism. After a momentary threat to accord, Von Igelfeld and his cronies unite against the common enemy: this radical intent on bringing down long-held traditions. In the interim, von Igelfeld takes up a short Fellowship at Oxford, where he is offered an honorary doctorate (on a quid pro quo basis), attracts the attention of MI6, and meets an American academic who is an avid fan of his book. Dr Andrea Schneeweiss follows him back to Regensburg, but will her presence help his campaign for Directorship? With his tongue once again firmly in cheek, McCall Smith manages to poke fun at the hallowed halls of academia. He reveals some of the underhand tactics utilised, but keeps his professors honest by providing them with a moral conscience in the form of Herr Huber. As always, there are some truly ridiculous incidents to add to the fun. Charming illustrations by Iain McIntosh adorn this highly entertaining read.