Annie Harrower-Gray opens up an alternative view of Scotland’s turbulent history, revealing three centuries through the eyes of the nation’s women.
The whole of society appears, from ordinary labourers, prostitutes and factory hands to their more celebrated sisters and even witches, bodysnatchers and female Jacobites. All their tales are freshly researched and told with a sense of humour. Colourful characters abound!
Step inside the boudoirs of Edinburgh’s ladies of pleasure, whose civilised manners so confused one church minister that he ‘accidentally’ took tea in a brothel. Creep into the graveyard with Helen Torrance and Jean Lapiq, convicted of bodysnatching half a century before Burke and Hare.
Uncover the murky history of Scotland’s last witch Helen Duncan, whose eerily accurate wartime predictions led to her imprisonment.
MY REVIEW
I thought that this was a really interesting book!
The women that the book focuses on were all unique in their own ways, they show some of the things that women have had to deal with over the years.
It was a really enjoyable read and full of fascinating stories too – some are very strange and you could not make them up, others are completely intriguing and the author has a fantastic writing style that brings them all to life.
The book was set out well and I enjoyed the different chapters too. It was an easy book to read and I read a few chapters each evening as it is an easy one to dip in and out of too. The book certainly piqued my interest and there are a few women mentioned that I want to now read more about.
It is 4.5 stars from me for this one, rounded up to 5 stars for Goodreads and Amazon – I thought it was a really interesting book and I have already given a copy of the book to a Scottish relative too! Highly recommended!!
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