The Mourning Necklace is a historical novel based on the true story of Margaret Dickson. You go for every single emotion reading this but ultimately it is a beautiful story with great writing. I had never anything about Margaret Dickinson before and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring a piece of history previously unknown to me. This is perfect for anybody who loves historical fiction.

he Mourning Necklace is a gripping and immersive historical novel based on the true story of Margaret Dickson, who survived being hanged in 1724 for concealing a pregnancy and murdering her baby.

The story is prefaced with a Public Notice, stating that:

" Notice is hereby given that, on the 2nd of September 1724, at the Grassmarket Gallows, Edinburgh, at eleven o'clock in the morning, there will be an Execution by Hanging of sundry criminals, for miscellaneous offenses, including, Murder, Coining, Robbery, and Concealment of a Pregnancy. [...]

"Any of the Hanged criminals whose bodies are unclaimed by next of kin will be taken by the Anatomists of Edinburgh for dissection at the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers."

The story opens with Maggie regaining consciousness after being hanged, lying in a coffin in a cart that awaits pick-up by the anatomists. She escapes from her coffin and, dressed only in a shroud and with a rope burn around her neck, she goes to the nearest pub where her family are drowning their sorrows. So begins an absolutely page-turning story of Maggie's life and imprisonment, both before and after the hanging.

Vivid and compelling

This is historical fiction of the highest order. To say it's immersive is an understatement. You can practically feel the wound on Maggie's neck and smell the stench of the streets. It's a story to lose yourself in. I was captivated from the opening pages and my suspension of disbelief was total.

Foster does an amazing job at fleshing out the little that's known about Margaret Dickson and building a rich and detailed story that brings the era and places to life. Maggie grew up in a poor family in Fisherrow, a fishing village in Scotland, where the family scrapes a living by selling fish and occasionally serving as intermediaries in smuggling operations. Maggie dreams of escaping this hard life, and when she is wooed by a man visiting the village, her head is turned and she marries him.

While much of the story is thrilling fiction rather than documented fact, like all great fiction The Mourning Necklace captures universal aspects of the human condition, in particular hardships experienced by women, illustrated through a unique story.

Oh my goodness, another GORGEOUS book by Kate Foster.
I genuinely don't know where to begin with this, because I loved everything about The Mourning Necklace. It had me hopeful, it had me sad, it had me angry, and everything in between. I've read Kate's other novels, which are truly just as beautiful, her style is so descriptive and emotive, and always written in a way that you fully understand the turmoil, the heartache, the determination, upset, and resilience of her main female characters.
The Mourning Necklace is hands down my favourite book of the year so far, and I'm already looking forward to whatever this brilliant author produces next for us to devour.

A story that starts in the middle... with life after hanging. It tells the tale of a Fisherrow fishwife, desperate to escape the life generations of her family have followed before her. It leads her to the streets of Edinburgh, back to Musselburgh via happiness, sadness and jail. It's an illustration of women's lives controlled by men and a woman's will to rail against this and make her own narrative. Based on a true story its a page-turner to the end. 5 star rating.

The Mourning Necklace is Kate Foster's retelling of Maggie Dickson's life before, during after the hanging she survived.


It opens strongly, and expectedly, in the middle of the story. This helps build curiosity about what had happened to poor Maggie and her family prior to this point...
But as Maggie recants the background to her tale to the reader, I struggled to stay interested.

Part of this is because I felt the relationship between the sisters felt inconsistent and there didn't seem to be any real resolution between any of their falling outs and the way it felt like Maggie thought she was better than everybody.
But her character does seem to grow by the end, and I found her more likeable... but not as charismatic as Mrs Rose.

There are some dark subjects throughout the story, but beware - the epilogue may just make you cry tears of joy and sadness 😭


Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan Mantle for providing me with an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are my own.

Propulsive historical thriller
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Based on history, Foster’s latest novel is a propulsive thriller of empowerment and determination set in Georgian Scotland, the mostly true story of Maggie Dickson, hanged for the death of her newborn daughter, but who survives the hanging and, having faced death and beaten it, has nothing to lose. She’ll get her worth out of the world and woe to any standing in her way. This is feminist empowerment before there was feminism, a novel for readers who might not usually read historical fiction, led by a smart character whose plans are five, ten steps further forward than the reader’s. Of course the historic origin and setting are front and centre, but it’s the pace of the action, the confidence of the characters, and Foster’s robust writing that gets this high up there in historic fiction.

A real winner: four and a half stars

Some people become famous for their remarkable lives and others for their remarkable deaths. Maggie Dickson is one of the latter – although technically, it wasn’t really a death at all! Known as ‘Half-Hangit Maggie’, Maggie Dickson was sentenced to death in 1724 and hanged in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket. As her family gather in a nearby tavern, they are shocked to look up and see Maggie herself standing at the door. Other than a rope burn around her neck, she seems unharmed by her ordeal and determined to make the most of the second chance she’s been given. But while everyone has questions for her – how did she survive and how did it feel to be so close to death? – there’s only one question that matters now to Maggie: will they try to hang her again?

Maggie Dickson was a real person and the story of her survival is a true one, still remembered three hundred years later; Maggie Dickson’s Pub in Edinburgh is named after her and she is often featured in Edinburgh walking tours. In The Mourning Necklace, Kate Foster builds a fictional story around this amazing woman and her near-death experience, using her imagination to fill in the gaps around the historical facts.

The year before she receives her death sentence, Maggie is living with her parents and younger sister, Joan, in Fisherrow, a small fishing community in Musselburgh, Scotland. The Dickson family have made their living from fish for generations, but Maggie doesn’t see a future for herself as a fishwife and wants something different out of life. Her marriage to Patrick Spencer, a perfume trader, seems to offer the opportunities she’s looking for, but when things don’t go according to plan, she takes control of her own fate and sets out alone for London. However, she gets no further than Kelso in the Scottish Borders before she is forced to make a series of decisions that will lead her back to Edinburgh and the gallows.

I enjoyed Kate Foster’s last novel, The King’s Witches, but I thought this one was much better and I connected with Maggie Dickson in a way that I didn’t with the women in the other book. There’s also a strong cast of supporting characters, including Joan, whose actions as a sister disappoint Maggie over and over again; Mrs Rose, who betrays Maggie for reasons of her own but at the same time is one of the few people to offer her friendship; and the wicked Dr McTavish, one of the book’s villains. All of these people have key parts to play in Maggie’s story, which is divided into three sections: the events leading up to her arrest, the hanging itself, and the path her life follows after she escapes death.

Maggie’s crime is something that will surprise a lot of modern readers as, although she unknowingly broke the laws of the time, today we wouldn’t really consider her to have committed a crime at all (at least not if Kate Foster’s interpretation is close to the truth). At first I assumed that as the death sentence was usually given as ‘hanged by the neck until dead’, it would be decided that Maggie had not served the sentence and would be hanged again. However, it wasn’t as straightforward as that because it seems that the sentence at that time was simply ‘hanged by the neck’ and the additional words were added later to avoid ambiguity in cases like hers.

This is a fascinating novel, with some great descriptions of 18th century Musselburgh, Edinburgh and Kelso. We also learn a little bit about the tea smuggling which was widespread down the east coast of Scotland and England due to high taxes on imported tea. I loved it and must find time to go back and read Kate Foster’s first book, The Maiden.

Kate Foster continues on a theme with The Mourning Necklace of shining a light on the real women behind court cases from historical Scotland. Foster is masterful at taking what are probably scant material sources and embellishing them into thoughtful, character-led novels that centre women’s experiences.

The Mourning Necklace explores the case of Maggie Dickson, who survived her own hanging in 1724.

Maggie was a Fisherrow fisherwoman, an incredibly tight-knit community set apart from other residents of Musselburgh and remembered for their incredibly hard work ethic and their distinctive dress.

But Maggie dreamed of a different life, and when a smuggler invites her to afternoon tea, the trajectory of her life will change dramatically.

As with all Foster’s novels, the historical world building and attention to detail is excellent. Maggie’s suffocation with the life laid out for her and her naive but determined character kept me hooked as her story unravels, full of twists and turns in what was a fascinating case.

As an aside - the Fisherrow Fishwives are so interesting - I’ve included a picture of them courtesy of the @JohnGrayCentre website, which gives a brilliant overview of them that’s full of their personality. I recommend you check it out too!

Thank you to @katefosterauthor and @panmacmillan for an advance #gifted copy of The Mourning Necklace, which is out now!

I will post on my instagram page @charlottereadshistory 10 July.

I absolutely loved the author's previous novel The Kings Witches and she is fast becoming one of my favourite writers in the historical fiction genre.
The Mourning Necklace is set in 1724, in the period before and after the hanging of Maggie Dickson for the murder of her new born child. Once again the author really captures the period and this is another beautifully written and atmospheric novel. Foster is a clever and original story teller and her writing flows seamlessly, I was completely immersed in Maggie's story and in eighteenth century Scotland. Maggie is a sympathetic and believable character and the the supporting characters are also brought to life so well. It's a twisty and unexpected read that I raced through over the course of 24 hours.
A stunning novel that I would highly recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Early 18th century Scotland was a hard place for a woman. Maggie was hangrd for the crime of concealing a pregnancy but to her family's surprise she rises from her coffin. Will she be hanged again for her 'crime' or walk free?
Based on the true events of Half-Hanged Maggie this book keeps you turning the pages to discover her story!

When Maggie Dickson stumbles into The Sheep’s Heid Inn, in Edinburgh in 1724, wearing little more than a thin smock, she gives her family the shock of their lives, for Maggie was hanged earlier that morning and as her family drown their sorrows so they begin to contemplate what happens next. Will Maggie be hanged twice for the same crime? As Maggie waits for the Edinburgh magistrates to debate the issue, she reflects on the events which brought her to her death.

Based on the true story of Half-Hangit Maggie, this beautifully imagined story gives us a fictional version of Maggie’s life, before, during, and after her hanging, from her rough upbringing with her family at Fisherrow Harbour in Musselburgh, to her early marriage, and subsequent escape to a border town, where the crime she is accused of takes place. Suffused with atmosphere Maggie's story resonates from the first page, time and place come so gloriously alive that it’s possible to walk in the footsteps of this strong woman, experiencing both the high, and incredible, low periods of her eventful life. The story flows so beautifully that I was totally invested in the story and couldn’t put the book away until I had discovered how this version of Maggie’s life played out. Gritty, and dark, in places, there is never a moment when the story doesn’t tug at the heart, from the harsh realities of life as a Fisherrow fishwife, to the damp and dismal condemned cells in Edinburgh’s notorious tollbooth, Maggie's life draws you in and doesn’t let go of your emotions until her fascinating story is told.

The Mourning Necklace is another masterclass in historical fiction from this talented writer who makes the history of ordinary folk come alive.

The Mourning Necklace by Kate Foster. Maggie wakes up after being hanged, quite alive and I loved the story of how she got there. Obviously there is a bad man involved and an accusation of murdering her own baby. I loved the Scottish setting and this is based on a true story which made me love it more. Everyone made horrible choices but I was rooting for her from the off.

Interesting to read how women could be hanged fr losing a child so soon after birth. This is essentially a well written historical novel with female heroes Not particularly my genre bit nevertheless engaging

I loved Kate Foster’s The Maiden and knew I would love this equally. This is a super read and once again the author has brought to life a real-life woman who lived - and died - in 1724 Edinburgh. Maggie Dickson was hanged in Grassmarket, Edinburgh for concealing a pregnancy. At that time it was against the law to conceal a pregnancy and if that concealed pregnancy resulted in the loss of life for the child, then the mother also lost her life. Maggie was hanged, but on the way to Musselburgh, she awoke in her coffin and went on to live another 40 years, gaining the name Half Hanged Maggie and there is a public house today on Grassmarket, Edinburgh that bears her name. This novel is a fictionalized account of Maggie’s life before and after her trial and execution. The young Maggie is in turns naïve, vulnerable and unbreakable. The emotions that she shows when faced with her own death - wonderful writing. The way she rebuilds and reclaims her own story is just gripping and although this is fiction, the period, in both setting and attitudes, is realistically portrayed. There are also some great characters in here, Mrs Rose for one. This is a tale not just of survival but also one of emotional growth, the epilogue had me in tears. A 5* read.

Kate Foster's The Mourning Necklace is a hauntingly evocative exploration of resilience, justice, and the indomitable spirit of a woman wronged by society. Drawing inspiration from the real-life tale of Maggie Dickson—dubbed "Half-Hangit Maggie"—Foster breathes life into a narrative that is both historically grounded and profoundly relevant.
The book is set against the grim backdrop of 18th-century Edinburgh, the novel opens with Maggie's execution for the alleged murder of her newborn child. Maggie defies the odds and survives the hanging... and tries to return to her family.

Initially the family does not want anything to do with her, she is cast aside and finds solace and accommodation at a Gin Inn... where she slowly recovers from her ordeal... People pay to see her scars from the rope burns.... there is a deeper side to this book. - making us realise how ignorant people were about death of new born babies, and also how keeping a pregnancy secret in the 18th Century was actually a crime!

Maggie Dickson wakes up in a coffin and the legend of Half-hanged Maggie is born. As a woman growing up in the fish trade in Musselburgh, Maggie has few prospects and longs to escape to London. When she meets a handsome smuggler her head is turned and she soon marries but when he is press-ganged she is left alone. Deciding to travel South Maggie reaches Kelso before she is robbed and has to work at an inn. However Maggie is pregnant and, when her newborn daughter dies, Maggie is convicted of murder.
This is a fictional story based on the true life case of Maggie Dickson, a woman hung for infanticide but who survived. Foster has created a whole backstory around Maggie and this reflects the treatment of poor woman in early 18th century Scotland where concealment of pregnancy was a crime. I really enjoyed this story as Foster has obviously researched the life of the fishwives as well as all the detail of Edinburgh. It's a little too comfy at the end but this is also true to Maggie's life.

The Mourning Necklace is based on the true story of Maggie Dickson, who was sentenced to hang in Edinburgh in 1724 for concealing her pregnancy and killing her newborn child, but survived. The story tells us of Maggie’s life prior to the crime (which obviously should never have been a crime in the first place !), how she came to find herself at the gallows, and what she did after her remarkable escape from death.

The book highlights how brutal life was for women in the 1800’s in a patriarchal society, reminiscent of Kate Foster’s previous book, The Maiden. Kate’s writing is very descriptive and atmospheric, and I couldn’t put the book down. 5⭐️ perfection.

This book sparked my interest as it bore a strange similarity to a celebrated case in Devon, where I recently spent a holiday.
In 1885, John “” Babbacombe “” Lee survived three attempts to hang him for the crime of murder. Apparently, the trap door mechanism malfunctioned, and his sentence was converted to life imprisonment, but later on he was freed.
Margaret Dickson in 1724, was sentenced to be hung for the concealment of a pregnancy, and for not asking for help with the birth. The 1690 Scottish Act treated this sad event as murder, regardless of any direct evidence to prove or disprove the facts of the event.
Maggie survives the hanging and turned up at her own wake. She then had to plead for her life, despite the fact she was given her death certificate as proof that the sentence was carried out.
The questions that must have been asked about how such an event happened! Was it the fault of the executioner, was the body not weighed accurately, or was the rope simply too long? Surely a bereaved mother should have been treated with more compassion?.
Scotland was mainly Presbyterian and the Kirk of Scotland enforced a strict moral code upon young women. At home it was mostly a patriarchal rule, women were married off to men with good prospects, it was probably rare for single women to expect more than a marriage and many children, as they didn’t seem to have had any recourse to knowledge of sex and contraception matters. There were many social and cultural expectations imposed, marry within your own kind, and retain your purity for the wedding night, of course, none of this applies to the young men.
This is a beautifully written reimagining of a true event, well researched and some surprising and disturbing facts revealed about the plight of young women in those times. Maggie comes across as a strong, determined, wilful, but sorely put upon female. She seems to have been a rebel and a radical personality, and she is remembered still.
I loved the previous book, The King’s Witches, and this novel is in the same vein, the harsh privations experienced by women, the injustices suffered. Their stories must be told.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Pan MacMillan, for my copy, freely given in exchange for my honest review. I have given a five star rating.
I will also post to Goodreads and Amazon UK.

Not the usual historical novel or retelling. The story of a woman in XVIII century, of the power of state on her body, of how she was hanged and survived.
A story of being poor, going and surviving. It moved me and kept me turning pages.
Loved it, highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Mourning Necklace brings to life the tragic tale of ‘Half-Hanged Maggie’, the young Scottish woman who was sentenced to hang for the ‘lawful’ murder of her infant babe. Although set in the early 1700s, the themes surrounding the laws of the day are resonant in today’s society. A concisely written novel with some interesting twists.