A short story collection inspired by Scotland’s forgotten women. This unforgettable collection draws together nine new stories of survival, rebellion, and magic from Mairi Kidd, author of The Specimens (Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month) and Newes of Witches.

A noblewoman defies a priest.
A countess claims her husband’s heart.
A ‘witch’ becomes a moneylender.
A harlot banks her gold.
A widow turns propagandist.
A princess takes up her pen.

Inspired by real women, real events and the historical record and by myth and legend, these stories breathe life into figures who survive only in fragments scattered through manuscripts, ballads and song. Vivid, moving and richly imagined, they reveal lives shaped by love and loss, ambition and adversity, courage and survival.

Here are wise women, wenches and witches reclaimed as daughters, lovers, dreamers, rebels and survivors, their voices rising from the silence of the past.

Drawing on years of research into chronicles, ballads, manuscripts and the half-remembered lore of Scotland’s past, Mairi Kidd brings to life women drawn from history, myth and legend, their stories resonant with courage, cunning, and rebellion.