Scotland's history has been told many times, but never exclusively by its women. This book takes a unique perspective on dramatic national events as well as ordinary life, as experienced by women down the centuries. From the saintly but severe medieval Queen Margaret to today's first minister Nicola Sturgeon, it encompasses women from all stations of class and fame and notoriety, offering a tantalising view of what happened to them, and how they felt. Drawing on court and kirk records, exchequer rolls and treasurer's accounts, diaries and memoirs, chap books and newspapers, government reports and eye-witness statements, Scotland: Her Story brings to life the half of history that has for too long been hidden or ignored.

Features material by from a hugely diverse range of authors, including:

Princess Matilda * St Margaret * Margaret Tudor * Mary, Queen of Scots * Lady Grizel Baillie * Elsie Inglis * Mary Slessor * Jane Carlyle * Marie Stopes * Nan Shepherd * Leila Aboulela * Winnie Ewing * Muriel Spark * Liz Lochhead * Jackie Kay * Ali Smith * Nicola Sturgeon

About the Author

Rosemary Goring was born in Dunbar and studied at the University of St Andrews. She worked at W&R Chambers as a reference editor before becoming literary editor of Scotland on Sunday. She was also the literary editor for The Herald and Sunday Herald, and is the author of two historical novels, After Flodden and Dacre's War.

Reviews

'Offers a new perspective, drawing on material from court records and diaries to chapbooks and eyewitness accounts to record life through the eyes of famous and unknown women. It features everyone from Queen Margaret, Mary Queen of Scots, and Lulu to herring gutters and the mother of a child massacred at Dunblane'

* Country Life *

'Rosemary Goring has set out to tell Scotland's story from the point of view of the women who played a part in it, without, in Jane Carlyle's words, "reservation or false colouring". ... it is an especial pleasure to read those contributions that reach beyond the task of redressing the wrongs of the past'

* TLS *

'A portrait of this country through the centuries, a really fine book, and an important one'

-- Peter Ross * The Afternoon Show, BBC Radio Scotland *

'a crafter and editor of stories that illuminate the past and communicate forgotten truths about the past in immensely accessible ways ... [Scotland: Her Story is] a book that is justly celebrated for bringing half the population in from historical darkness'

-- Sally Magnusson



Book Information
ISBN 9781780275987
Author Rosemary Goring
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Birlinn Ltd
Publisher Birlinn General
Weight(grams) 362g
Dimensions(mm) 195mm * 130mm * 30mm