The Ninth Child, Sally Magnusson
The Ninth Child, Sally Magnusson
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The Ninth Child
The new novel from the author of The Sealwoman's Gift

Author: Sally Magnusson

Narrator: Angus King, Hugh Ross, Jamie Parker, Kristin Atherton, Sarah Barron, Siobhan Redmond

Unabridged: 8 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Two Roads

Published: 03/19/2020


Synopsis

'I'M HOOKED . . . IT'S WONDERFUL. ONE NEVER MESSES WITH THE FAERIES' MELANIE REID, THE TIMES
'FEW BOOKS HAVE THIS IMPACT ON ME' MICHELLE GALLEN, BIG GIRL SMALL TOWN

A spellbinding novel combining Scottish folklore with hidden history, by the Sunday Times bestselling author Sally Magnusson.

Loch Katrine waterworks, 1856. A Highland wilderness fast becoming an industrial wasteland. No place for a lady.

Isabel Aird is aghast when her husband is appointed doctor to an extraordinary waterworks being built miles from the city. But Isabel, denied the motherhood role that is expected of her by a succession of miscarriages, finds unexpected consolations in a place where she can feel the presence of her unborn children and begin to work out what her life in Victorian society is for.

The hills echo with the gunpowder blasts of hundreds of navvies tunnelling day and night to bring clean water to diseased Glasgow thirty miles away - digging so deep that there are those who worry they are disturbing the land of faery itself. Here, just inside the Highland line, the membrane between the modern world and the ancient unseen places is very thin.

With new life quickening within her again, Isabel can only wait. But a darker presence has also emerged from the gunpowder smoke. And he is waiting too.

Inspired by the mysterious death of the seventeenth-century minister Robert Kirke and set in a pivotal era two centuries later when engineering innovation flourished but women did not, The Ninth Child blends folklore with historical realism in a spellbinding narrative.

*PRAISE FOR THE SEALWOMAN'S GIFT*

'I enjoyed and admired it in equal measure' Sarah Perry
'An extraordinarily immersive read' Guardian
'Richly imagined and energetically told' Sunday Times
'An epic journey' Zoe Ball Book Club

(P) 2020 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

About Sally Magnusson

Bestselling author, journalist and broadcaster Sally Magnusson has written several books for adults and children, most recently her Sunday Times bestseller Where Memories Go (2014) about her mother's dementia, The Sealwoman's Gift (2018), her acclaimed debut novel, The Ninth Child (2020) and Music in the Dark (2022). Sally lives outside Glasgow.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ceecee on November 10, 2019

4-5 stars. I’m still a bit stunned actually. I think this book is fantastical, magical and mystical and I love that it is set within real events and with characters of the time. The timescale is 1856 to 1859, the main setting is Loch Katrine and Loch Chon (which means dog in Gaelic) in the Trossachs......more

Goodreads review by Louise on March 19, 2020

Set in 1856 Isobel Aird is the wife of a doctor. Unfortunately, she seems unable to carry a baby to term. She's had several miscarriages and struggles to find a sense of worth. Isobel has had eight miscarriages and with her role as a Victorian Lady trying to fit in with the social norms of her time. T......more

Goodreads review by Louise on March 18, 2020

Set in 1856. Isobel Aird is the wife of a doctor. Unfortunately, she seems unable to carry a baby to term. She's had several miscarriages and struggles to find a strength of worth. Isobel has had 3ight miscarriages and with her role as a victorian Lady trying to fit in with all the social norms of he......more

Goodreads review by Stephen on June 26, 2020

this novel took awhile to get going and based on myth and real events , found that the latter part of the book more interesting but maybe that's just how I felt......more

Goodreads review by Joseph on July 06, 2021

The Ninth Child, Magnusson’s second novel, is inspired by a true event in Scottish history – the construction of the Loch Katrine aqueducts, meant to supply fresh water from the loch to the city of Glasgow, thirty-five miles away. This ambitious project was commenced in 1855 and was inaugurated by Q......more


Quotes

Sally Magnusson's classy new novel The Ninth Child has snared me . . . Suffice to say I'm hooked, and I'm only on page 50. It's wonderful and I daren't stop. One never messes with the faeries. Melanie Reid, THE TIMES

An absolute triumph! Such a clever interweaving of history and fairytale. I loved the lively intelligent heroine and the brooding sense of menace throughout. It had me gripped right to the end Sarah Haywood, author of THE CACTUS

Not only did the book transport me while I read, but when I slept my dreams were extraordinarily vivid - I dreamt I was roaming in the highlands, smelling fresh air, feeling sunlight - far from my hospital bed. Few books have this impact on me. Michelle Gallen, author of BIG GIRL SMALL TOWN

An engaging mix of folklore and Victorian history Sunday Times

This eerie tale blends Scottish folklore with historical fiction i

Pacy and accomplished, with a supernatural chill The Herald

Enthralling Scots Magazine

Well-researched, fascinating . . . a strong sense of place . . . an accomplished piece of writing, cementing Magnusson's place, not just as one of Scotland's best-loved broadcasters, but one of Scotland's leading writers of historical fiction Scotland on Sunday

Entertaining, educational and thought-provoking, The Ninth Child is pacy and accomplished, with particular skill in capturing the supernatural chill attached to some of Scotland's most picturesque sights Press Assocation

A compassionate story of the clashing cultures of science and superstition, of male and female, rich and poor Anne Goodwin Weekly