Synopsis
‘Kate Foster can pluck a dark story from the depths of history and bring it to vivid life before your eyes . . . A strong contender for my book of the year’ – Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal
Inspired by an infamous real-life case, The Mourning Necklace is the unforgettable new feminist 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-mark like a mourning necklace.
1724. In a tavern just outside Edinburgh, the family of Maggie Dickson – hanged for the murder of her newborn child – drown their sorrows, mourning her death yet relieved she is gone. Shame haunts them; 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 one: will they hang her twice?
‘Kate excels at bringing the forgotten women of history back to life and giving them the attention they deserve’ – Claire Evans, author of The Fourteenth Letter
‘Captivating . . . Scratch beneath the surface of a Kate Foster novel and all of life is there in the most elegant prose’ – Marion Todd, author of the bestselling DI Clare Mackay series
‘Brilliant . . . [Kate Foster is] the new Hilary Mantel’ – Tina Baker, author of What We Did In The Storm
Details
05 February 2026
9781035052073Reviews
Kate Foster can pluck a dark story from the depths of history and bring it to vivid life before your eyes. The Mourning Necklace is her best yet. Inspired by the real-life tale of a woman who survived her own execution, it is moving and masterful, a visceral treat that transports you to 18th-century Scotland and says as much about modern life as it does about those harrowing times. Foster is a class act and an author who, if you haven’t read her yet, what are you waiting for? A strong contender for my book of the yearJanice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal
What a fabulous read. Maggie is an amazing character – so ordinary, yet profoundly extraordinary at the same time - her story compelled me from the very first page. Kate excels at bringing the forgotten women of history back to life and giving them the attention they deserveClaire Evans, author of The Fourteenth Letter
Riveting . . . The tension persists until the last pageThe 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
