Is it possible to write a coherent novel when the primary research source, that I’ve become so deeply embroiled in, is anything but coherent? And how was that for a non-coherent sentence?
The witchcraft confessions of Isobel Gowdie are extraordinary. And strange. And mixed up in many ways, so it seems to me.
Here’s a quote from Confession 2, not translated by me, slightly translated by Robert Pitcairn in his 1833 work Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland (I will translate quotes that appear in the novel for ease of understanding):
“The aucht Spirit [is called] ‘ RoBERT The JAcks,’ ftill clothed in dune, and feimes to be aiged. He is ane glaiked gowked Spirit! The woman’s [nikname] that he waitis on, is ‘ABLE AND STOWT!'”
The letter S was written as F. Sometimes. The letter F was also written as F. All the time. What a wonderful voice Isobel had, for I definitely feel that at least some of that passage did not come from just answering ‘aye’ to closed, specific questions. Such are my incoherent, and sometimes inconsequential, thoughts…
So, I revisit Isobel’s places:
The stone row in Auldearn above. Bluebells! Green alkanet by Auldearn Kirkyard below.
I also revisit the Downie Hillock, where Isobel dined with the King and Queen of Elfhame (fairyland). It’s nice there.
I was there in these places on May 3rd, the day on which, in 1662, Isobel gave her second confession.
Back at my desk, I remember that coherence can come in editing. Later. And I let the words and the story flow on…
The Mermaid and the Bear, 2019
Everyone knows about the Salem witch trials that took place in seventeenth century America, but less well known are the instances of witch hunting that occurred across Scotland.
Ailish Sinclair painstakingly researched this fascinating and terrible subject for more than a year, before blending it with a love story in her debut novel, THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR. Featuring three real women who were accused as part of the Aberdeen witchcraft panic of 1597, the book is set against the beautiful backdrop of the Aberdeenshire countryside and tells the story of Isobell, and her desperation to escape London and an arranged marriage, to find a better life.
Upon landing in Scotland, Isobell’s dreams of faery castles, ancient woodlands and misty lochs seem to be coming true, as she finds herself kitchen maid to a handsome Laird, who offers not only safety but also the hope for a brighter future, filled with love and kindness. All is not how it seems, however, and enemies, both from the past and the present, conspire to test Isobell to the limits of endurance, and beyond.
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