Author: Foster, Kate
Historical fiction
Published on 5 February 2026 by PAN MACMILLAN (Pan Books) in the United Kingdom.
Paperback | 304 pages
196 x 130 x 21 | 214g
‘Moving and masterful . . . transports you to 18th-century Scotland and says as much about modern life as it does about those harrowing times’ – Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The AppealInspired by an infamous real-life case, The Mourning Necklace is the unforgettable original feminist historical novel from the Women’s Prize-longlisted author of The Maiden, Kate Foster.
They said I would swing for the crime and I did . . . I wear the rope-mark like a mourning necklace.
1724. In a tavern just outside Edinburgh, the family of Maggie Dickson – hanged for the murder of her newborn child – drown their sorrows, mourning her death yet relieved she is gone. Shame haunts them; passers-by avert their eyes from her cheap coffin on its rickety cart.
But as her family pray her soul rests in peace, a figure appears at the door.
It is Maggie. She is alive.
Bruised and dazed, Maggie has little time for her family’s questions. All that matters to her is answering one: will they hang her twice?Praise for Kate Foster:‘Riveting . . . The tension persists until the last page’ – The Times‘Tense, thrilling . . . with a decidedly feminist slant’ – Daily Mail‘Kate excels at bringing the forgotten women of history back to life and giving them the attention they deserve’ – Claire Evans, author of The Fourteenth Letter‘Captivating . . . Scratch beneath the surface of a Kate Foster novel and all of life is there in the most elegant prose’ – Marion Todd, author of the bestselling DI Clare Mackay series‘Brilliant . . . the new Hilary Mantel’ – Tina Baker, author of What We Did In The Storm