Scotland's Hidden Harlots and Heroines

Book excerpt: Annie Harrower-Gray opens up an alternative view of Scotland's turbulent history, revealing three centuries through the eyes of the nation's women. The whole of society appears, from ordinary labourers, prostitutes and factory hands to their more celebrated sisters and even witches, bodysnatchers and female Jacobites. ??All their tales are freshly researched and told with a sense of humour. Colourful characters abound! Step inside the boudoirs of Edinburgh's ladies of pleasure, whose civilised manners so confused one church minister that he 'accidentally' took tea in a brothel. Creep into the graveyard with Helen Torrance and Jean Lapiq, convicted of bodysnatching half a century before Burke and Hare. Uncover the murky history of Scotland's last witch Helen Duncan, whose eerily accurate wartime predictions led to her imprisonment. This book offers an exciting and erudite voyage through the social history of Scotland. ??Honour the heroines who helped to shape Scotland, yet rest in unvisited tombs!??As featured in Alloa & Hillfoots Advertiser and Scottish Memories Magazine.