Kate Foster: The King's Witches

Join journalist and bestselling author, , on Tuesday 11th June at 7pm, as we celebrate the launch of her grippingly compelling and lavishly enthralling new book, .

The King's Witches follows the lives of three very different women in sixteenth-century Scotland, as their lives become intertwined during the rise in rumours of witchcraft grips the country.

Kate's first book, , was Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2024, is the Winner of the Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect Award 2022 and the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year 2023 and was Blackwell's Scottish Book of the Month for May 2023.

Women whisper secrets to each other; it is how we survive

Denmark, 1589. Princess Anne is betrothed to King James VI of Scotland - a geopolitical royal union designed to forever unite the two countries. But first, she must pass the trial period: one year of marriage in which she must prove herself worthy of being Scotland's new Queen. If the King and the Scottish royal court in Edinburgh find her wanting, she faces permanent exile to a convent. Determined to fulfill her duties to King and country, Anne resolves to be the perfect royal bride. Until she meets Lord Henry.

By her side is Kirsten Sorenson, her loyal and pious lady's maid. But whilst tending to Anne's every need, she has her own secret motives for the royal marriage to be a success . . .

On the other side of the England-Scotland border, a young housemaid by the name of Jura is dreaming of a new life. She practices the healing charms taught to her by her mother, and when she realises she is no longer safe under her master’s roof, she escapes to Edinburgh.

But it isn't long before she finds herself caught up in the witchcraft mania that has gripped not just the capital but the new queen . . . Will Anne, Kirsten and Jura be able to save each other, and in doing so save themselves?

Kate Foster has been a national newspaper journalist for over twenty years. Growing up in Edinburgh, she became fascinated by its history and often uses it as inspiration for her stories. Her first novel, The Maiden, was a feminist revisionist take on the Scottish legend of The White Lady of Corstorphine. The King's Witches is her second novel. She lives in Edinburgh with her two children

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Doors: 6.30pm, event starts: 7pm, please arrive early to secure a good seat.

Tickets are £3 and there is a Ticket & Book option which includes a signed copy of The King's Witches by Kate Foster.

The bookshop has level access, events are seated and speakers use microphones. If you have any concerns about accessibility, please do get in touch and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.

For more information or if you would like a signed copy because you can't make it to the event, please contact the Blackwell's events team on 0131 622 8222 or [email protected]

Host or Publisher Blackwell's Edinburgh South Bridge