The Maiden
In 1679, Lady Christian Nimmo stabbed her lover, Lord James Forrester, to death and was sentenced to ‘kiss the Maiden’, the guillotine which rose against the Edinburgh skyline. Setting the book over the year leading up to her trial, Kate Foster examines what might have led a well-to-do, married lady to risk everything, and then rid herself of her lover in such bloody fashion.
During her neighbourly visits to James’s invalid wife, the naïve young Christian falls under his spell, never fully understanding why he chooses her over her prettier sister. James is outwardly respectable gentry, but wallows in lewdness, frequents brothels, debauches his maid, Oriana, and keeps a whore, Violet, as his mistress, locked within the castle tower, where he hoards his collection of sexually explicit art. As Christian falls desperately in lust, driven by James’s passion, his lies and his flattery, she realises it is the long chase which enthrals him. Once the prey succumbs, his interest wanes. Violet and Christian never meet but become inextricably entangled in their mutual jealousy.
Christian, Violet and Oriana share a tacit understanding, known only to women ill-used by ruthless men, as society turns its back at a time when public shaming―the branks, the repentant stool―was common. All three are given voice, and all are sympathetically drawn. The story moves between Christian’s and Violet’s lives, Christian’s imprisonment, and the trial. Chapters conclude with heavily-biased broadside editorials, visiting scandalous revelations upon the populace, which enhance what is already a well-grounded historical narrative. This is a thrilling revenge tragedy, atmospheric, compelling and delivering everything a good historical novel should.
