Birlinn

I looked at Jenny, remembering her in her crib, the way her fingers played in mine, the way her cheek lay hot on my skin. I wished I had the power to give her safe passage through this life, but truth is, it would have taken a real witch to do that

novel contest in 2020, a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship in 2015, a spot as Cove

Redundancy hit her hard.

She won first place in the Fresh Ink novel contest in 2020, a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship in 2015, a spot as Cove Park’s Emerging Scottish Writer in 2016 and a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in 2013.

She’s in the mood for a quick and comforting dinner, pasta with capers and olive oil. Adrian prefers something more substantial. There are beef strips in the fridge. She’s been avoiding them to spare a tooth recently turned tender. The meat is about to pass its sell-by date and

Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.’

MARY SHELLEY

plifying the voices of underrepresented writers. She now lives in County Durham with her daughter, Molly, and a host of four-legged family members

It boiled and it raged until the rocks wept and the dawn cursed

He hadn’t believed them on his first crossing, but now . . . now there could be no other explanation.

‘This is the work of witches.’

It was 1982 (although it could have been ’81). I was five years old,