Mairi Kidd

The worst monsters are the human kind . . . Dundee, 1812. Isabel Baxter awaits the arrival of Mary Godwin, a girl of fierce intelligence and grand passions, sent north to recover from a mysterious ailment. The Baxter family home, nestled in woodland by the river Tay, seems the perfect retreat. But The Cottage is a place of secrets, and Mary is no ordinary guest. As the girls grow closer, their friendship becomes all-consuming, haunted by memory, fuelled by feverish creativity, and shadowed by something monstrous. Inspired by true events, this is an immersive reimagining of the young Mary Shelley before she became the author of Frankenstein. A story of girlhood, obsession, and the birth of a literary legend. Years before Frankenstein, this is a story of emerging womanhood and literary intrigue, exploring the many monsters in young Mary Shelley's life. From the bestselling author of Waterstones Scottish Book of the month, the Specimens, Poor Creatures is perfect for fans of Stacey Halls, Sara Sheridan and Ambrose Parry.

<p><i><b>She did not mean to<br>But she has killed, and killed, and killed again.<br></b></i><br>Dundee, 1812. Isabel Baxter awaits the arrival of Mary Godwin, a girl of precocious intellect and grand passions, sent north to cure an ailment no one understands. Nestled in woodland on the banks of the Tay, the Baxter family estate seems a perfect place for a troubled girl to recuperate. But The Cottage is a place of secrets, memories... and monsters.<br><br>Haunted by sickness and loss, Mary steps with Isabel into a shared fantasy world of intrigue and desire. As the fiction weaves its web about them, the two girls begin to lose their interest in reality - with far-ranging consequences for the lives of more than themselves...<br><br>The tale of the birth of <i>Frankenstein </i>has fascinated for centuries. <i>Poor Creatures</i> imagines the birth of Mary Shelley the writer - and the devastating effects on the circle about her.</p>

The worst monsters are the human kind . . . Dundee, 1812. Isabel Baxter awaits the arrival of Mary Godwin, a girl of fierce intelligence and grand passions, sent north to recover from a mysterious ailment. The Baxter family home, nestled in woodland by the river Tay, seems the perfect retreat. But The Cottage is a place of secrets, and Mary is no ordinary guest. As the girls grow closer, their friendship becomes all-consuming, haunted by memory, fuelled by feverish creativity, and shadowed by something monstrous. Inspired by true events, this is an immersive reimagining of the young Mary Shelley before she became the author of Frankenstein. A story of girlhood, obsession, and the birth of a literary legend. Years before Frankenstein, this is a story of emerging womanhood and literary intrigue, exploring the many monsters in young Mary Shelley's life. From the bestselling author of Waterstones Scottish Book of the month, the Specimens, Poor Creatures is perfect for fans of Stacey Halls, Sara Sheridan and Ambrose Parry.

Up the close and down the stair, meet the women of Burke and Hare Edinburgh, 1828. Two women - one rich, one poor - must navigate life against a frenzied backdrop of medical discovery, mob mayhem, and murder. Susan's sheltered life as the wife of Robert Knox, a wealthy anatomist, is a far cry from Helen's perilous existence in the Old Town slums with her lover William Burke. Yet as people begin disappearing, these two different women face the same impossible choice. Should they protect what they have or tell the truth about what they know? Discover the notorious serial killings of Burke and Hare, told for the first time through the eyes of women whose stories reveal the depths of the human heart.