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The Mourning Necklace
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The Mourning Necklace

By: Kate Foster
Narrated by: Paula Masterton
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About this listen

'Kate Foster is an exceptional writer and masterful storyteller' – Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal

Inspired by an infamous real-life case, The Mourning Necklace is an unforgettable 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-bruise like a necklace.

1724. In a tavern just outside Edinburgh, Maggie Dickson’s family drown their sorrows, mourning her death yet relieved she is gone. Shame haunts them. Hanged for the murder of her newborn child, 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 this one: will they hang her twice?

©2025 Kate Foster (P)2025 Macmillan Publishers International Limited Historical Fiction

Critic reviews

Kate Foster can pluck a dark story from the depths of history and bring it to vivid life before your eyes. The Mourning Necklace is her best yet. Inspired by the real-life tale of a woman who survived her own execution, it is moving and masterful, a visceral treat that transports you to 18th-century Scotland and says as much about modern life as it does about those harrowing times. Foster is a class act and an author who, if you haven’t read her yet, what are you waiting for? A strong contender for my book of the year (Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal)
What a fabulous read. Maggie is an amazing character – so ordinary, yet profoundly extraordinary at the same time - her story compelled me from the very first page. 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)
Scratch beneath the surface of a Kate Foster novel and all of life is there in the most elegant prose. The Mourning Necklace is an exquisitely crafted imagining of Maggie Dickson’s life, death and life again – a captivating tale you must not miss (Marion Todd, author of the bestselling DI Clare Mackay series)
The new Hilary Mantel. A tale of a working class lass punished for the crime of wanting more. Thank you for making me cry again Kate Foster! Another brilliant read with shocks and humour along the way (Tina Baker, author of What We Did In The Storm)

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