The Maiden

Winner of the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year

‘Exceptional — a tense, thrilling investigation, with a decidedly feminist slant’ — Daily Mail

Inspired by a real-life murder trial, The Maiden is a remarkable feminist revisionist novel that places the forgotten women of history firmly centre stage.

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

Edinburgh, 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 . . .

Shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger
Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction

‘A masterpiece’ — Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal

‘Riveting . . . the tension persists until the last page’ — The Times

*The Maiden was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction on 05/03/2024