Description
Book SynopsisThis is the story of Margaret Catchpole, born into a smugglers' world in Suffolk in the late 1700s. As the valued servant of a wealthy family and a friend of criminals, Margaret leads a double life that inevitably brings about her downfall, and she is sentenced to hang not once, but twice. But she escapes the gallows and is transported with other convicts to Australia.
A wonderful adventure story, Scapegallows takes inspiration from the life of the real Margaret Catchpole. A woman who lived by her wits, she was a slip-gibbet, a scapegallows.
Trade Review** 'Birch deftly tells a story spanning several decades, with an intensity that is . . . lyrical . . . . and evokes the period without compromising her complex diachronic concerns * TLS ** '[Birch has] a first class voice . . . An exciting and evocative fictional version of the life of Margaret Catchpole . . . The novel is a triumph of texture and historical detail’ *
SUNDAY TIMES * ** 'Birch deftly tells a story spanning several decades, with an intensity that is . . . lyrical . . . . and evokes the period without compromising her complex diachronic concerns’ *
TLS * ** 'A rich portrait of a shadowy world of 18th century sailors and smugglers, full of characters both charming and fatally flawed. Fans of Margaret Atwood's ALIAS GRACE will enjoy this engaging and compassionate tale’ *
PSYCHOLOGIES * ** 'Birch is a naturally literary writer who can, with a simple image, evoke the deepest emotion’ *
