Aimee MacDonald for The Last Witch on the Knock

Join us this March to celebrate a fabulous new literary horror debut by Aimée MacDonald, The Last Witch on the Knock. Based on the story of the last woman killed for witchcraft in the Scottish Highlands, Aimée has weaved together a haunting body horror tale that is perfect for fans of Julia Armfield.

‘A lyrical exploration of identity and shared trauma, reminding readers of the power of folk. MacDonald's writing is unflinchingly visceral’. -- Amy Twigg, author of SPOILT CREATURES

Wouldn't you rather be a witch than a victim?

I didn't realise those were my only options.

In need of a fresh start, Thomasin leaves her toxic boyfriend, absent father and empty friendships to spend the summer in the Scottish Highlands with her eccentric Aunt Agnes and stern little cousin, Nina. But amidst the sprawling fields and ragged hills thrums a secret that has cursed the land for generations.

300 years earlier, Kate McNiven labours in The Big House by the Knock hill, wishing for a brighter future far away from the lecherous clutches of her master, the Laird. When she is exiled as a witch for refusing to succumb to his advances, Kate finds the escape she so desperately seeks in Thomasin, whose vulnerable body becomes her unwilling host.

In the thin place between centuries, through a pulsing wound that bleeds out history, the truth of the past is finally ready to be revealed...

Aimée MacDonald is an Edinburgh-based writer of novels, short stories and poetry and a graduate of The Faber Academy. The Last Witch on the Knock is her first novel.