The Mourning Necklace – A Scandalous Feminist Historical Novel from the Women’s Prize-Longlisted Author (Paperback)

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Set in 1724 on the edge of Edinburgh, The Mourning Necklace opens in the aftermath of a public hanging. Maggie Dickson has been executed for the murder of her newborn child, and her family gathers to mourn, burdened by shame as much as grief. The city has already turned away, eager to forget.

Then Maggie returns.

Bruised, shaken and very much alive, she interrupts her own wake with a question that cuts through shock and relief. Will the law claim her life a second time? As her family struggles to understand what has happened, Maggie must reckon with a society that has already judged her beyond redemption.

Drawing on a real historical case, The Mourning Necklace explores justice, survival and the narrow paths open to women in eighteenth century Scotland. It is a powerful reimagining of a moment when death failed, but mercy was far from guaranteed.