Kate Foster (1)Reseñas

Anna of Denmark is to marry the King of Scotland but he is afraid of witchcraft and there have been witch burnings in her homeland. When her ship is forced to turn back by a wild storm, there are many that blame witchcraft. Anna's companion, Kristin, is also very keen to get to Scotland but will not say why. As Anna tries to reconcile love and duty, Kristin tries to protect her child and poor young Jura becomes the centre of wild accusations about a plot to kill the king.
The paranoia of James I around witchcraft and demonology is well-known and the North Berwick witch trials have been explored in a number of recent novels but this is a great story. Foster has built a compelling fiction around a little fact and it works incredibly well. Probably the least believable part is that of Kristin and Jura's relationship but as a narrative driver it's acceptable. A very readable novel.

The King's Witches follows three women over the course of a couple of tumultuous years. Princess Anna of Denmark leaves her country to travel to Scotland for a trial period before hopefully becoming the wife of King James VI of Scotland. She travels with her maid, Kirsten, a trustworthy companion to Anna but she has her own reasons for wanting to be in Scotland. The third woman is Jura Craig, a young Scottish woman trying to find her own way in the world, using the healing skills and charms her late mother, a so-called cunning woman, taught her.

Eventually the paths of these woman converge and I was wondering what the catalyst for that would be. The author did a brilliant job at pulling each strand together and there were plot points that I never guessed at. This was a worrying time for everybody, but particularly for women, as the witch trials were gathering pace. There are some shocking scenes in this book and it's hard to comprehend that anyone with an ounce of sense could have believed any of it. Sadly, history tells us that it's all true.

After loving Kate Foster's debut, The Maiden, last year, I was really looking forward to The King's Witches and I wasn't disappointed. It's so well-written and the kind of historical fiction that I like, where it's full of atmosphere and true to the time it's set in but has a contemporary feel to the language used. This story of three strong women, determined to survive in turbulent times, had me completely gripped from start to finish. I needed to know what would happen to them and hoped so hard that their outcome would be a good one, although it often seemed impossible. Foster has become a favourite author of mine and I'm now very much looking forward to book three.½

This was an unputdownable read for me. I loved it.

The story opens in the late 1600's, Edinburgh. Lady Christian Nimmo is under arrest for the murder of her lover, Lord James Forrester, who is her uncle by marriage. Married to a wealthy merchant, Andrew Nimmo, what drove Lady Christian to do this, and did she kill her lover ? After Christian's father's death, she , her sister Johanna and their mother are left with a mountain of debt. Their mother encourages her daughters to marry quickly, to someone wealthy. The story is told in two voices, that of Christian, and that of another young woman, Violet, whose family's poverty has forced into a cruel life as a prostitute. Christian was seduced by her much older uncle James, who is married to a woman in poor health. Meanwhile, Violet lives in a house of ill repute, and was also pursued by Lord James.

All of the characters were well drawn, detailed, and the story held me rapt. Inspired by the real life murder of Lord James Forrester, this gives a voice to women who otherwise would not have had one at that time.½

1679, Lady Christian Nimmo is accused, tried and executed for the murder of her uncle Laird James Forreste. This book is a historical but fictional account of what happens and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The story does follow what happens with Lady Christian and also a another character Violet who is fictional. Being mostly fiction but based loosely on a true case I would say the author has fleshed out a lot that happened especially that Voilet didn't exist. However this did not distract from the story and my enjoyment.

After reading the book I wanted to know more about Lady Christian so looking online I found very little. In the book The author does stick to the facts but weaves the tale that I did find myself on Christian's side. However reading what I have online about her she doesn't come across as a very nice person.

As for the Maiden itself, it's a type of guillotine that was used in Scotland. It is said to have executed 150 people for various crimes. The Maiden is on display in the National Museum of Scotland.

Something spooky for Halloween, the ghost of Lady Christian is supposed to haunt the site of the murder.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I do like historical fiction about real people and events. This story had me hooked from the start to finish.

When their father leaves the family with a mountain of debt, Christian and her sister are forced to marry. Christian struggles to find anyone from society so marries a well-to-do merchant but her marriage lacks passion. When her predatory uncle-by-marriage seduces her Christian believes her self in love but James is a notorious rake and Christian's response finds her convicted of murder. Is she really a murderess? A whore?
This is a fictional imagining of a real-life case from just outside Edinburgh when the noble Lady Christian Nimmo was executed on the Maiden (a form of guillotine) for the murder of her lover. Here Foster has embellished the facts by looking at the perspectives of two other women introduced in the tale, the whore and the servant. I really liked the story and the different views of the roles of women. The only problem I found was the lack of anything really linking the tale to the 1670s, I kept having to refer to the dates on the chapters as the tale could have happened anywhere from the 16th to the 19th centuries. However the sense of place was fantastic, from the Old Town of Edinburgh to the open spaces of the country estates.

The Maiden is an absolutely brilliant work of historical fiction, a story that is both compelling and shocking, and based on true events.

Kate Foster has reimagined the life of Lady Christian Nimmo. In 1679 Christian was charged with murdering the Laird of Corstorphine, James Forrester, her uncle by marriage and also the man she was having an affair with. This book considers what made Christian risk everything and I found it a very convincing account.

The story is told from the points of view of two very different women: Christian and another young woman named Violet. The two narratives are woven together to portray the run up to the murder and what happens afterwards. I didn't know what the Maiden was before reading and now I do and it's pretty grisly.

I like my historical fiction to be accessible and The Maiden hits the mark perfectly. It has a contemporary feel to the writing that made it very easy to read, but is still steeped in historical detail and atmosphere which thoroughly transported me to the 17th century streets of Edinburgh. The contrast between the lives of Christian and Violet is stark, the divide between those who have and those who have not never more clear, and yet Foster shows us that life for any woman at that time, no matter their background, was far from easy.

This might be a story of murder but it's also a story with heart. The question of survival is never far away, and I felt sympathetic towards most of the characters. Although the outcome is fairly obvious from the beginning, Foster's writing completely captivated me and I wanted to know everything that would lead me to the conclusion: why, how, when and where. I was utterly gripped and enthralled by The Maiden, a beautifully written historical tale that I couldn't put down.

What I didn't like:

I didn't like Violet. I understand that she knows how to survive, but I also feel like, given the time and age, if she had existed, she would have been implicated in the murder for sure. I would have loved more of Oriana, who is infinitely more interesting and has more to say and do. We would have learned a lot more about Lillias and the whole castle and people if she had been more of the main.

But there are good reasons to read The Maiden:

Because I can guarantee that you haven't heard of this myth story before, and sometimes that's all you need. It's set in Corstorphine and Edinburgh, and it's nice to have a change of scenery from London and New York in works of historical fiction. While Violet and the other women don't exist in real life, the time and setting of the story allow us to see a society in flux. Christian is not being married off to another lord; her husband is a merchant (a very wealthy one). If we were reading a work of historical fiction set in London, that would have been the biggest crisis.

The Maiden is also a story about loneliness and how things are so cloaked in secrecy. Christian and her husband should be having sex. But he regularly dismisses her and never wants to touch her; there can never be an honest conversation. It's also a bit sad because if you check out any all-female group on Facebook (dedicated to Pakistani women), this is still a problem. Female desire isn't supposed to exist.

And in that, it's also about loneliness and how beauty standards impact us. Despite being lovely and graceful, Christian is also acutely aware that she is not beautiful like her sister, which hinders her in a world where her only aim can be marriage, something that she doesn't want. She would have loved to travel, but she just can't. Her husbands rejection of her in that regard makes her double down on this, which is why James calling her beautiful matters so much.

The most important lesson of The Maiden is that of sexual abuse and grooming in families. Almost 34% of child sexual abuse is committed by relatives. And this story we see that happening very clearly. From the get-go, we see that James is interested in Christian, and as we go ahead in the story and see Christians' memories, he's been interested since she was as young as 13. It's a game he's played for years, and he isn't too put out by her getting married. We can argue about different times and standards, but this is a grown man married to her aunt. His behavior is noted by the mother, who can't do much because they need his help. But she also doesn't do much to reduce it by telling Christian to wear what he gives her or even giving her some hint as she's older.

Final Verdict:

I loved this book and will leave it four out of five stars! I can't wait to read more by Kate Foster!