A whimsical read. I loved the lyrical prose and read it with Sally Magnusson's voice in my head, but found the slipping from one narrative voice to another at times quite confusing.

What a glorious thing this book was, a magical mix of Victoriana, history book and good old fashioned dark fairytale - a brilliant introduction to Sally Magnussen’s work for this reader.

Loved the narration and the inner monologue /voice of ominous intent.

I really enjoyed this, although like others I found it a little confusing with the jumps between characters. That actually got easier as the book went on, as I was more used to it and better at recognising their different voices and it was an ARC, so will presumably be a bit easier in the published version! It took a bit of getting into, the very historical water engineering and the ramblings of Robert Kirke, a man escaped or evicted from Faery, didn't necessarily gel particularly well to begin with but eventually it all came together. The sense of menace really grew throughout the book as well, to the rush at the end, and there was a sense of sadness throughout from the children that Isobel had lost and the damage that had done her.

Overall an interesting historical read, and one where there are multiple aspects worth thinking about.

A strange, but beautifully written book. Isobel, longing for a baby goes with her husband to a rough mining area where work is going on to bring clean water to Glasgow. The history of the time is interesting. However, I did find it difficult to focus on exactly who was the narrator at any one time..
Thank you to NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

A perfect blend of reality and folklore.
Set in Scotland this book transports you to another time and place.
Perfect for a rainy day you will devour it in one sitting perfect for anyone who read the seal woman's gift and fans of celtic folk tales.

Intriguing novel but with a lot of interesting fact too. Beautifully written story set in mid-19th century Scotland with disease-ridden poverty in the Glasgow slums, engineers and doctors striving to bring clean water to the city, navvies and families toiling in the pristine hills disturbing the faerie folk below. The main character is Isabel Aird, wife to a doctor, married six years with eight mis-carriages behind her and trying to find a place beyond looking gracious and breeding in a society where women do just that. She finds a solace at Loch Katrine in spite of the dynamite and desecration going on all around her with the tunnelling through the mountains to bring clean water to Glasgow.. She becomes fascinated by the Reverend Robert Kirke from the 17th century (a real figure) and he has more than a fascination for her especially when she becomes pregnant with her ninth child. Her surprising friend Kirsty, surprising as she is a navvie's wife, provides much of the narrative in the first person where she is trying hard to help Isabel come to terms with her life. There is plenty about engineering practices, nursing practices and society at various levels - all factual but well inter-woven with the story. It took a while to catch on who was narrating at any one time but I'm hoping that this is because it was a advance copy and that there might be a little more space (like a paragraph return) where these changes occur. If not, it is, nonetheless, well worth persevering Thanks to NetGalley and John Murray Press, Two Roads for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

What a captivating take on an age old Scottish fairy yarn. Woven around real characters from history and actual events, I couldn’t put it down. I was totally drawn in.
The character, Rev Kirke, seeming dishevelled and forlorn, was to be pitied and yet it came across that he had a darkness in his soul that was almost palpable. Somehow filled with regret
I loved the use of all the old Scottish words, which added an enrichment to the tale.
I would totally recommend this book. Such a good read. I’m sure I’ll reread it and it’s the kind of book that will only get better with each reading as you discover something new amongst its pages.

I have just finished reading this wonderful book. Sally Magnusson’s ability to weave fact, fiction and folklore into a storyline is nothing short of brilliant!! I highly recommend it, and was sorry to finish it.

A new author to me and an interesting read. It took me a little while to get going and work out that more than
one person was narrating the story of Isobel - a doctor's wife - struggling to give birth to a live baby over ten years. The reader also learns about the perils of unclean water and the pioneering work in Scotland regarding this alongside the interest that Queen Victoria and Albert had in this. All in all a good read. Thanks netgalley for the free read.

Far fetched story invoking legends and rumours around central Scotland..A doctor and his society wife trying desperately for a child. Historical facts were interesting ,the rest not so much.

It’s 1856 in Scotland it’s the start of the Industrial revolution where they are planning to build a aqueduct between Glasgow to Lock Katrine to bring fresh water and stop the Cholera epidemic.
Isabel Aird is a doctor’s wife who helps patch up the construction workers while her husband is out in the field. She is also a woman coming to terms with the loss of her children she can’t bring a child to term. She has lost 8 children. The story also includes the story of Queen Victoria and the time when she gave birth to her ninth child Beatrice.
Thank you for NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the Ninth Child. This book was well written and researched regarding what happened in the 1800’s. Although say that for me personally I just couldn’t get into this book. There wasn’t anything grabbing me, and I found it quite slow.

Having enjoyed Sally Magnusson’s previous book, ‘The Sealwoman’s Gift’ I was looking forward to this one, but found it quite disappointing overall. There is some beautiful and poetic writing here, but the frequent changes of voice make the story hard to follow, as it is often several paragraphs before the reader is aware that a different character has taken over the narrative. The story itself, based on true events, has great potential and the lyrical writing gets three stars from me, but this book felt like pretty hard work at times, and the supernatural element does not always sit comfortably with the rest of the narrative.

I loved the idea of this book, and couldn’t wait to read it. However, I found I just couldn’t get into it.

The narrative jumped confusingly from one person to another, so that a lot of the time I had no idea who was narrating. The style was at times quite dense and not very readable. In all, the story pretty much vanished under the weight of these issues.

Although the descriptions were lovely and the idea an intriguing one, it was too erratic in narrator, style and storytelling to hold my attention.

Three stars for an appealing idea, but it just didn’t keep me glued to the page.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the review copy

The Ninth Child, The new novel from the author of The Sealwoman's Gift, Sally Magnusson

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General Fiction ( Adult)

I was really intrigued by the description, bits of real history, interwoven with fantasy.

I loved Alistair, Isobel's husband, he was such a caring man. And Isobel, all those miscarriages, how heartbreaking. In those times too it was just accepted, and I felt she didn't really get a proper chance to grieve, and Alistair was expected to just be a man and not even acknowledge their losses. Kirsty too, was a great story teller, brought things alive.
I did find though that the story was very confusing at times. The narrative would change from one person to another, form one place to another without warning. That may be because I was reading an ARC though, but I found the story itself was so complex that things like that didn't help my understanding.
Though the writing and descriptions were beautiful, and the explanations of the waterworks very in depth but understandable, I never really got into” the story. I didn't feel more than an impassioned observer, and I was still confused by certain events even after the story ended. I cried at part of that, such a tragedy. :-(

Stars: Three, beautifully written but a story that mostly passed me by.

Arc via Netgalley and publishers

A beautiful book that combines the history of the industrial revolution in Scotland, namely the Loch Katrine water works, that supplied Glasgow with fresh , clean water, and the unknown world of the Fairy folk, so beloved of Scotland. I learnt much from this novel, that I had no idea about. During my Nurse training, we were taught about health and hygiene as set out by Florence Nightingale, cleanliness and fresh air, and the importance of fresh clean water, Chadwick and his attempts to provide London with good sanitation, but never knew of the struggles in Scotland. There is so much rain in that country, it seemed inconceivable that there were problems with the supply of water to all areas. It wasn't until much later, that hubby and myself started to spend many months there on holiday, that the sheer logistics became clearer. There are so many mountains, and poor road access to isolated villages. Even with a railway link, land slips are frequent, and the diversions by road are many miles extra. All these problems are brilliantly explained in this story, the hardships that faced the navvies, as they toiled to blast routes through mountains, the high death rates amongst the men, health and safety being a very modern invention, the courage of the women on site, who had to bring up children and feed their menfolk and family on such poor wages. The sickness and life changing accidents in particular, would really test such a community, and the need for a devoted doctor was paramount.
Dr Alexander Aird, and his wife Isabel, go to Loch Katrine, for this very purpose. He is interested in public health, and wants to prevent the many cholera outbreaks in Glasgow, which he believes is due to contaminated water. A fresh water supply is vital, and he also believes the fresh air in the Trossachs, will be beneficial to his wife's health, they have been married for six years, and have suffered the loss of many babies. While Alex is busy caring for the workers, Isabel is wandering around the Loch, and sees the ghosts of her unborn children playing around the shoreline, this brings her great comfort, and introduces the idea of the ' Fairy Folk', of which there are many legends and place names associated with these little people.
There is a lot of superstition examined in this story. Fairy Folk in Scotland are almost a natural phenomenon, and we have many tales of human children being taken away, by these spirits. They have fairy glens, and the Fairy Flag of Dunvegan is legendary, it depends what you believe.
I thought that Alex was a very caring doctor, but absolutely rubbish at understanding female health and depression, especially after Isabel suffered so many miscarriages. The character of Robert Kirke, is based upon a real person, he was supposedly abducted and taken into the fairy world, and strikes up a rather sinister relationship with Isabel, but no spoilers here!!
This book will travel with me to Scotland this year. We go to Killin, which is close to Loch Katrine, as the crow flies. Each year, we do a new themed tour, we thought to try the Rob Roy trail, which goes to a few of the locations in this book. It may end up being the search for fairies and clean water!! A marvellous book, full of information, and a guide to a Victorian piece of history.

Wonderful tale of hurt, nature, the industrial revolution and fairies all wrapped up in beautiful language and a light touch to the prose.

Isabel is a poor soul who you yearn to comfort and support which makes the friendship with Kirsty both surprising, given their different social status, and welcome. As a woman I really felt that Kirsty was exactly what Isabel needed.

The land around Loch Katrine is expertly portrayed and you can feel the healing balm of the low highlands work on Isabel.

Each tells his/her own story - there really is not much not to love about this book - a classic in the making

Thanks to Netgalley and Two Roads for the opportunity to review this book. I really wanted to love this book and there were some aspects of it that were excellent. However, overall I found it quite difficult to plough through, especially the fact that it slipped from one character plot to another without any explanation . The book was well researched and the descriptions of the area around Loch Kathrine was magical ,giving a sense of the beauty and tranquillity healing Isabel Airds battered soul. The ramblings of Robert Kirk I found quite boring and I could not get to grips with the Faery theme. For me this was a book with great promise which slipped away.

There is so much going on in this book. Without wanting to give away the ending, I thought it was brilliant how it all tied together. What felt like a slow start, soon turned into an interesting, magical, imaginative, historical read.
So much effort has gone into finding out about about this era too and many things that went on at the time. Including the king and queens decisions at the time. It was portrayed fantastically.
I love how Isabel found some sort of slow healing in falling in love the the scenic nature around her.
Very wonderfully written, researched well, I would recommend.
The beginning is a little slow but its definitely worth continuing. I loved how different it was.

A beautifully written book set in 19th century Scotland. The main character is a doctor's wife who follows her husband to the engineering works for Glasgow's water supply. She meets a mysterious minister who is more than he seems. Why is he interested in her and, more importantly, her much-wanted unborn baby?

The different characters - Kirke, Kirsty and Isabel all narrate their experiences, and we also hear from the Faery Commonwealth!!!

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good back. Sally Magnusson has written another excellent book, with an unusual background.

Thanks to NetGalley and Two Roads for an advance copy.

Isabel Aird is in the sad position of seemingly being unable to carry a child to term. The story is set at the time of the building of the great scheme to use the water from Loch Katrine to provide clean water to Glasgow. Isabel’s husband is the doctor who patches up the navvys injured in the construction work. It’s set in the mid 1800s and Queen Victoria, Albert and the scientist Dr Joseph Lister and his wife are all characters in the book. This sets it well in its historical context. There is also the realm of faery. I think some readers will balk at this, but I enjoyed it. There’s much we don’t know, and which lurks at the edge of vision. The only complaint I have is that it ran from one point of view directly into another. I hope this will be sorted out before publication because it’s a huge distraction having to go back and check who’s telling the story.