Kate Foster’s new novel ‘The Mourning Necklace’ was an excellent way to start my February reading.
Set in 1724, we follow Maggie Dickson, a woman who has been hanged for the murder of her newborn baby. We are plunged into the action from the outset as Maggie awakens in her coffin within the opening pages having survived the hanging. The description of the welt on her neck and her disoriented state as she tries to escape the confines of the coffin had me quite literally on the edge of my seat. As the judges debate the wording of the law and whether they should have another go at putting her death, we go back in time to learn about the events that led Maggie to that fateful moment. What follows is a harrowing account of loss, hardship, gender-based violence and an awe-inspiring resilience from a Fisherrow Fisherwoman who slowly comes to the realisation that she, in her own words, is “built for battle”.
The action of the novel moves between Musselburgh, Kelso and Edinburgh. I live in the heart of East Lothian so I LOVE that I could visualise the places described in the novel: the gallows at the Grassmarket in Edinburgh, the harbour at Fisherrow and the market square of Kelso. Even if you don’t live locally, Kate Foster is a genius at writing rich and immersive prose that definitively captures the essence of a place, building the fictionalised world up layer upon layer so that you can almost hear the hustle and bustle and smell the stench of the Nor Loch.
As much as I enjoyed the dark, murky side of Edinburgh, I also really loved the quotidian rhythm of 18th century life within Fisherrow and Kelso. The novel seems to celebrate the women at the heart of it all who, despite being brutalised by the men around them, basically just get stuff done. They are hard-working, competent and stoic, and despite their petty differences, seem to share a deep bond as they all fight (silently or otherwise) against rigid social expectations, limited legal rights and scarce opportunities for education or any sort of financial independence.
The female characters in the novel are varied and serve as a great cross-section of society at that time. Maggie though… I LOVE that she was based on a real historical figure. To think that I’ve had many a gin in the eponymous Maggie Dickson’s bar in the middle of Edinburgh’s Grassmarket, not really appreciating who she was or the fact that she was hanged a stone’s throw from the pub. If you’ve never visited Edinburgh, I would thoroughly recommend.
This is another contender for one of my favourite reads of the year… and it’s only February! Thanks so much to Pan MacMillan for an advance copy of the novel. This is a highly recommended one from me and will likely linger with you long after you’ve tuned the final page.
The novel is due to be released on 29th May and can be pre-ordered here.
