The Maiden

Inspired by a real-life case and winner of the Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect Award, Kate Foster’s The Maiden is a remarkable story with a feminist revisionist twist, giving a voice to women otherwise silenced by history.

“In the end, it did not matter what I said at my trial. No one believed me.”

Edinburgh, October 1679. Lady Christian is arrested and charged with the murder of her lover, James Forrester. News of her imprisonment and subsequent trial is splashed across the broadsides, with headlines that leave little room for doubt: Adulteress. Whore. Murderess.

Only a year before, Lady Christian was newly married, leading a life of privilege and respectability. So, what led her to risk everything for an affair? And does that make her guilty of murder? She wasn’t the only woman in Forrester’s life, and certainly not the only one who might have had cause to wish him dead . . .

Reviews of The Maiden

The Maiden is a masterpiece. A thrilling historical murder tale but so much more. Vivid, evocative and full of humanity. I took each and every character to my heart. The fact this is inspired by a true story makes it all the more chilling and relevant. I was transported to 17th Century Edinburgh so completely, I’m sure a part of me is still there — Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal and The Twyford Code

A pleasingly female-led re-imagining of true historical events,The Maiden brings 17th century Edinburgh vividly to life in all its colour and stink — Mary Paulson-Ellis, author of The Other Mrs Walker and Emily Noble's Disgrace

I inhaled The Maiden. A feminist retelling of a murder that shocked 17th century Scotland. Brave, bold and at times deliciously indecent with vivid characters that leap from the page and demand attention. Kate Foster has such a fresh, exhilarating voice — Lizzie Pook, author of Moonlight and the Pearler's Daughter

A fabulous book . . . The writing is exquisite and it felt like a rare treat – a story totally rooted in its time and place, but that speaks across the generations — Claire Evans, author of The Fourteenth Letter and The Graves of Whitechapel

The Maiden is historical fiction at its finest. A true-life murder tale told thrilingly through the eyes of two very different women, yet both are fighting for their futures in a patriarchal world riven by hypocrisy — D. V. Bishop, author of City of Vengeance

A brilliantly bawdy, fabulously feminist take on a real life tragedy. A beautifully written thriller full of all too human characters. I loved it! — Tina Baker, author of Call Me Mummy and Nasty Little Cuts