Coinciding with publication of Heather Richardson’s novel Doubting Thomas, a story of sex, drugs and blasphemy in late seventeenth-century Edinburgh, publisher Vagabond Voices launched a series of podcasts that delve into the potent historical context of the book. Immerse yourself in episode five below.

In this episode Dr Alasdair Raffe, an expert on Scottish religion and politics in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, describes the widespread political and religious conflict in Scotland in these key periods, and explores the ways in which it impacted freethinkers like Thomas Aikenhead. If you haven’t already listened to Episode Two of our podcast, we recommend pairing it with this episode as the two complement each other well.

This podcast is part of Vagabond Voices innovative In The Freethinker’s Footsteps project; find out more about it here.

Doubting Thomas by Heather Richardson is out now published by Vagabond Voices priced £11.95.