Overview

A witty, time-split tale of art, identity, and who gets admitted to the club. In eighteenth-century Edinburgh, poet Alison Cockburn accepts a daring challenge: to pass as a man and infiltrate the all-male Edinburgh Skating Club. In the present, art historian Claire Sharp is tasked with untangling the provenance of an iconic skating portrait. As both threads tighten, the novel asks how reputations are made—on canvas, on ice, and in the whispering rooms of a city in full intellectual bloom.

Writing & Atmosphere

Sloan keeps the pace lively without skimping on texture: closes slick with frost, salons bright with debate, and lochs cold enough to bite. The Enlightenment setting is handled with a light, confident touch—ideas in the air, gossip underfoot—while the contemporary strand offers clean, satisfying investigative rhythm. It’s playful, polished, and genuinely evocative of place.

Characters

Alison is terrific company—sharp, audacious, and painfully aware of the limits placed on her talent. Her alter-ego is drawn with humour and pathos, and the coterie around her (philosophes, friends, sceptics) feel distinct. Claire’s modern voice grounds the art-history mystery with method and care, and the supporting cast avoid caricature, even when they’re delightfully ridiculous.

Themes

Gatekeeping, performance, and authorship run throughout. The novel probes how gender expectations and social clubs police access to pleasure and prestige, and how artworks accrue power as stories calcify around them. It’s also a love letter to Edinburgh—its sharp tongues, quick minds, and frozen lochs.

What Worked

• Fresh premise: disguise-and-infiltration meets art-world sleuthing.
• Sense of place: Enlightenment Edinburgh and modern cityscapes both sparkle.
• Smart structure: alternating timelines that inform each other cleanly.

Minor Quibbles

• A few reveals in the present-day plot arrive a touch tidily after the lively build-up.
• Readers craving dense period detail may find the tone intentionally brisk and accessible.

Final Thoughts

Charming, clever, and full of icy sparkle, The Edinburgh Skating Club twines gender play with art-history intrigue to delightful effect—an Edinburgh caper with brains and heart.

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)