Inspired by an infamous real-life case, The Mourning Necklace is an unforgettable historical novel from the Women’s Prize-longlisted author of The Maiden, Kate Foster.
They said I would swing for the crime and I did. I wear the rope-bruise like a necklace.
1724. In a tavern just outside Edinburgh, Maggie Dickson’s family drown their sorrows, mourning her death yet relieved she is gone. Shame haunts them. Hanged for the murder of her newborn child, passers-by avert their eyes from her cheap coffin on its rickety cart.
But as her family pray her soul rests in peace, a figure appears at the door.
It is Maggie. She is alive.
Bruised and dazed, Maggie has little time for her family’s questions. All that matters to her is answering this will they hang her twice?
My Review
I’m a huge fan of Victorian Gothic mysteries so my first Kate Foster read The Repentants was a little early for me, set in Scotland in 1790. The Mourning Necklace, also set in Scotland, begins in 1724, so even earlier. But no matter as I loved this as well.
The books opens with Maggie Dickson surviving her own hanging. How is that even possible? She wakes up in a coffin and makes her way home to her family. The revelation is far more complicated than a simple survival. But we have to read on to find out.
The book then goes back in time to tell us how Maggie ended up being hanged and what for. Nowadays it beggars belief, but that’s how things were for women in the 18th century.
Maggie is a brilliant character and there were others I really loved too. Particularly Mrs Rose, aka Dorothy, who starts off as a thief and a whore, but ends up as Maggie’s best friend. Maggie’s sister Joan not so much, to be honest she’s an idiot, but she is no doubt a reflection of the times. Maggie’s husband Patrick Spencer, who claims to have been press ganged into the navy after they’ve only been married a few months, is also an unlikable character.
I listened to The Mourning Necklace with Borrowbox and thoroughly enjoyed the Scottish narration.
About the Author
Kate Foster worked as a national newspaper journalist for more than twenty years before becoming an author. Growing up in Edinburgh, she became fascinated by its history and often uses it as inspiration for her stories. Her debut novel, The Maiden, won the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year in 2023 and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2024. She lives in Edinburgh with her two children.
