Mairi Kidd on Newes of Witches

Mairi Kidd on Newes of Witches

It's always a highlight in our Literary Festival to welcome Scotland's own Mairi Kidd. She returns with two books. Newes of Witches is a historical novel set in the highlands and capturing the atmosphere of Scotland's witch trials. Amidst the bogs and oat fields, children are going missing, and others seem to have fallen under a malevolent spell. When a young serving girl is imprisoned on suspicion of witchcraft, it falls on healer and midwife Morag to uncover the truth behind the matter. However, investigation only raises more questions, and soon a violent truth comes to light which threatens to upend local life. As tensions in the community reach a fever pitch, allegiances shift, lives unravel, and Morag struggles to save the life of an innocent girl. But in a village gripped by fear and paranoia, this may demand the greatest sacrifice of all.

But Mairi will also have copies of her forthcoming book, the evocatively titled The Second-Best Whore in Town: And other stories inspired by wise women, wenches and witches. This book draws from years of research into chronicles, ballads, manuscripts, and the half-remembered lore of Scotland's past, bringing to life women both historical and imagined, their voices resonant with courage, cunning, and rebellion.

***Both books will be available on the evening, and this event will be taking place in the historic Wardlaw Museum at the University of St Andrews.***

Mairi Kidd graduated with a First in Celtic Studies from the University of Edinburgh and has worked in books ever since. Her novel The Specimens - a retelling of the 1828 crimes of Burke and Hare - was Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month and the short stories from her collection We Are All Witches formed the basis for the award-winning 'Heal and Harrow' project. She lives by the sea in Edinburgh with her illustrator husband and their rescue cat.