The Ninth Child: The new novel from the author of The Sealwoman's Gift

Written by Sally Magnusson

Narrated by Angus King, Hugh Ross, Jamie Parker and 3 more

'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

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Murray Press
• Release date: Mar 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781473696655

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 for The Ninth Child

[stressedrach · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a great read, which although may need some perseverance at the beginning as it does kind of flip around a bit but it is worth sticking to. It entwines real life events in the 1850’s set in Scotland with some elements of magical realism too. The detail was fantastic and it shows the author did a lot of research about the aqueduct being built, why it was being built and the scenery too.
I thought it was an enlightening book with all the details of the disease, medicine and the building of the aqueduct as well as heart wrenching, losing one baby is hard but eight must be so destroying.

[josephcamilleri-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1859. The protagonist of Magnusson’s story is the fictional Isabel Aird, whose husband Dr Alexander Aird is assigned to the project to cater for the workers’ medical requirements. Isabel joins her husband and is, at first, not particularly enthusiastic about her new life in the Highlands. She also battles with the pain of consecutive miscarriages. As she settles down, however, not only does she start to appreciate the countryside and the company of the locals but, inspired by the recent exploits of Florence Nightingale in Crimea, she also nurtures the ambition of working side by side with her husband in the medical profession.

Magnusson weaves into Isabel’s story the legend associated with the Reverend Robert Kirke (or Kirk), a 17th Century Scottish Episcopalian minister and Gaelic scholar. Kirke wrote the first complete translation of the Scottish metrical psalms into Gaelic, and was also involved in the publication of one of the earliest Gaelic editions of the Bible, whose printing in London was funded by scientist Robert Boyle. However, Kirke is nowadays best known for The Secret Commonwealth, a book which he left unpublished at his death. Its lengthy subtitle gives a good indication of the subject of Kirke’s studies: an Essay on the Nature and Actions of the Subterranean (and for the most part) Invisible People heretofore going under the names of Fauns and Fairies, or the like, among the Low Country Scots as described by those who have second sight. The fairy realm is hardly the typical area of study of a religious minister, and Kirke’s dubious dabbling in this “occult” fare gave rise to the legend that he was spirited away by the fairies at his death, his body replaced with that of a stranger. Sir Walter Scott refers to this legend in his Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft: Scott, it should be said, published the first edition of The Secret Commonwealth in 1815, more than a century after Kirke’s death.

Magnusson imagines Kirke returning from fairyland and striking up a friendship of sorts with Isabel Aird. Fairies and Elves in Gaelic folklore are hardly the cute spirits found in children’s books, and we soon learn that the sìthichean are asking from Kirke a nefarious deed in return for being released from fairy captivity.

The Ninth Child is a well-researched historical novel with supernatural elements – and it should have been right up my street. Yet, I struggled to finish it, leaving it to the side for several weeks before returning to it in earnest. I can’t really put my finger on why this was the case, particularly since so many readers have been really enthusiastic about the novel. It might be that I simply was not in the mood for it. That said, I could not shake off the impression that the book was somewhat all over the place. Isabel’s story is already compelling on its own, and with introduction of Kirke, we get some supernatural frisson as well. However, Magnusson also introduces several other characters, including historical figures such as Victoria and Albert and scientist and polymath William Rankine. Their stories and voices intertwine – sometimes in unlikely ways, such as Prince Albert’s meeting with Robert Kirke. I felt that these subplots sapped the punch from what could have been an interesting and captivating story.

Related to this, there’s also the issue of the multiple and rapidly changing viewpoints. The novel’s “anchoring” narrative is Isabel’s story, as recounted by Kirsty McEchern, Isabel’s Scottish helper and friend. However, the novel often switches to omniscient third person narration, showing us scenes between the Airds (and between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) which, of course, Kirsty would not have been privy to. We then get Kirke’s ruminations, answered by the fairies’ insolent replies. This, apart from various letters and diary entries of the various figures, some of whom make little more than a cameo appearance. Again, I felt that this blurred the novel’s focus.

This book then, has plenty to recommend it, but I would have liked it leaner.