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2000s: Some secrets last for generations . . .
2000s: Some secrets last for generations . . .
When Ailsa Reid becomes the subject of a trial by media after an incident at the school where she works, she escapes to the comfort of her grandparents’ house in Fife. But she arrives to find her grandmother, Moira – recently diagnosed with dementia – has gone missing, and her grandfather, Rupert, gravely injured.
Desperate to ensure Moira’s safe return, Ailsa must rely on the help of her estranged mother, Rowan, who abandoned her at birth. Tensions simmer between the two women as they attempt to piece together the lead-up to Moira’s disappearance.
But to move forward and find Moira, both Ailsa and Rowan must look to their ancestors, and to a story about witches burned on the hill above the Reid house centuries ago. Can they break the bonds of
Fife and Scottish witches
The author says:
This setting is absolutely central to the story, as is the location itself. Fife was the epicentre of witch hunts in the 16th and 17th centuries, and one of the stories that stuck with me most was that of Lilias Adie. Accused as a witch, Lilias died in custody and was buried on the beach in Torryburn, between the high and low tide markers. This inspired the scenes of the Reid women standing with one foot in the ocean and one foot on the sand, ‘that nowhere place, made only for salt spray and women who were lost’.
Destination/Location: Fife, Edinburgh Author: Victoria Hawthorne Departure: 2000s
Back to Results1920s: Inspired by a true story – They knew they were changing history. They didn’t know they would change each other.
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