'Kate Foster is an exceptional writer and masterful storyteller' - Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal

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 new-born child, passersby avert their eyes from the cheap coffin on a rickety cart.

But as her family pray her soul rests in peace, a figure appears at the door.

It is Maggie. She has survived.

Did she bribe the hangman? Or was she touched by God? And can she prove her innocence before they try to hang her again?

Praise for Kate Foster:

'Exceptional - a tense, thrilling investigation, with a decidedly feminist slant' - Daily Mail on The Maiden

'Riveting . . . the tension persists until the last page' - The Times on The Maiden

'Enthralling, compelling and at times chilling . . . An utterly timely tale' - D. V. Bishop, prize-winning author of Ritual of Fire, on The King's Witches

About the Author
Kate Foster has been a national newspaper journalist for over twenty years. Growing up in Edinburgh, she became fascinated by its history and often uses it as inspiration for her stories. Her previous novels include The Maiden, which won the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year in 2023 and was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2024, and The King's Witches. The Mourning Necklace is her third novel. She lives in Edinburgh with her two children.

Reviews
The Maiden is a masterpiece. A thrilling historical murder tale but so much more. Vivid, evocative and full of humanity -- Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal, on The Maiden
Riveting . . . The tension persists until the last page -- The Times on The Maiden
Kate Foster expands the slender facts of the case into something exceptional - a tense, thrilling investigation, with a decidedly feminist slant - Daily Mail on The Maiden
Threat hangs over every page like the awaiting guillotine, but the women in this book gleam sharper. Witty, gritty and full of heart, their voices rise through the brutality and hardship of seventeenth-century Edinburgh, battling to be heard -- Cari Thomas, bestselling author of Threadneedle
Historical fiction at its finest. A true-life murder tale told thrillingly through the eyes of two very different women -- D. V. Bishop, author of City of Vengeance, on The Maiden
A masterpiece of the historical fiction genre - I literally didn't look up from first page to last -- Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal, on The King's Witches
A beautifully written tale of love and duty, fear and courage -- Jenny Ashcroft, bestselling author of The Echoes of Love, on The King's Witches
Enthralling, compelling and at times chilling . . . An utterly timely tale -- D. V. Bishop, award-winning author of Ritual of Fire, on The King's Witches
A gripping, poignant novel that gives voice to those so often unheard in historical accounts -- Elizabeth Lee, bestselling author of Cunning Women, on The King's Witches
A rich, compelling story of three women and their intersecting lives -- Katie Lumsden, author of The Secrets of Hartwood Hall, on The King's Witches



Book Information
ISBN 9781035052059
Author Kate Foster
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Macmillan
Publisher Pan Macmillan