NEW FICTION

The Ninth Child ★★★★★

Broadcaster Sally Magnusson’s latest novel, The Ninth Child, is an eerie tale blending Scottish folklore with historical fiction in a pageturning read. Varying voices tell the story of a well-to-do doctor and his wife moving from a slum-ridden Victorian Glasgow to the Trossachs as a pioneering water scheme is built at Loch Katrine to serve the choleraplagued city. At the site that inspired Sir Walter Scott to pen The Lady of the Lake, the wife, Isabel Aird, meets a mysterious minister as she grieves a series of miscarriages, but her Highland housekeeper discovers his true nature. Entertaining, educational and thoughtprovoking, The Ninth Child is pacy and accomplished.