The Mourning Necklace
Author Kate Foster taps into a rich seam when she takes on the true story of Maggie Dickson, a woman hanged in 18th-century Edinburgh but who came back from the dead. The story is well-known in Scotland’s capital. There is even a pub named after “Half Hangit Maggie”, a Musselburgh fishwife who survived the hangman’s noose after being found guilty of murdering her baby on the banks of the River Tweed. Whether the child was stillborn, left to die or killed is a matter for conjecture. But what is known is that after the failed execution in the Grassmarket area of the city, Maggie went on to live for another forty years.
It’s a fascinating tale and one which Foster handles with aplomb, putting herself directly into Maggie’s shoes with a first-person account, with the first chapter strikingly in the present tense as the protagonist finds herself alive but dressed in a burial shroud and in a coffin. Understandably, she is confused and incredulous at her present situation – as was this reader, who was hooked instantly.
Foster, the author of two previous novels, The Maiden and The King’s Witches, takes us on a taut, layered and atmospheric journey, imagining the build-up to this tumultuous event and what might have happened to save Maggie from her fate and prevent her from being hanged again. Smuggling, intrigue, poverty, the place of women in society and the heartbreak of losing a child all contribute to a very satisfying read.
