Five Books set in Edinburgh by women writers

Submitted: 4th October 2023

Five Books set in Edinburgh by women writers

This week sees the first Edinburgh Fiction Festival for Women in Edinburgh. It’s not just for authors who are either Scottish or who set their novels in Edinburgh, but why not take a look at the following selection of books that have the city firmly in their grasp anyway? If you’re going to the festival, you can see the city in a very unique way using these books as guides.

Hazardous Spirits By Anbara Salem

There’s several parts of Edinburgh in this book that you probably won’t have noticed. There was a huge spirutalist movement there in the 1920s according to the novel and so there’s various halls and buildings that you will look differently at next time you pass!

This is a debut book and it gets under the skin of the city, its history, heritage and spiritualist side.

The Maiden by Kate Foster

Inspired by a true story

The word Maiden has two meanings – a woman unmarried and a type of guillotine used in Scotland at the time.

Colourful and chilling as you get to see a hanging, a cemetery and more

In Place of Fear Caz McPherson

This is a good novel to showcase the birth of the NHS

Set in the Fountainbridge part of the city

Full of Scottish dialect

Rizzo by Denise Mina

This is a good novel to read as it tells the story of Mary Queen of Scots and the murder of her friend and secretary David Rizzo.

It’s 1566, and the Queen is pregnant.

There are those who want Rizzo dead tonight and for the Queen to see it happen.

The Fair Botanists Sara Sheridan

The author discovered that the Royal Botanic of Garden in Edinburgh was moved from its site on Leith Walk to Inverleith and became very interested in finding out more. This became the story at the centre of the novel.

It’s a wonderful portrayal of a city and its stunning botanical gardens.

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Five Books set in Edinburgh by women writers