This is a dark creepy book set in Edinburgh
It has the feel of a short story collection
Some of the characters I didn’t like
I enjoyed the darkness of the book

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This is a very weird and unique concept. The Devil's daughters comes to Edinburg to give birth to a child for a rich, but very unscrupulous man. I liked the double narrative and the shift in perspective. The writing is also gripping.

This was gothic meets strange. Spooky and weird. I liked the gritty aspects but I found it hard to connect with the characters.

Incredible writing.
Intertwined stories of some of the residents or inhabitants of Luckenbooth, a tall building in Edinburgh - combining gothic storytelling, magical realism, wonderful women, damaged individuals, love and hate, death and life, spirits and devils - and always, the sound of hooves, or the shadow of a horned head.
A triumph

I was expecting to really love this and ... I didn't. I love Edinburgh (favourite city in the world), I love feminism and I love mysteries. This just felt preachy and dull and half-baked.

I didn't really care about the central character although the fate of the toddler was pretty distressing. There were sparks of interest here and there but it was just so disappointing.

Fabulous gothic writing at its best, from one of the new Scottish voices.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Luckenbooth is a wonderfully strange novel which spans nine decades in an Edinburgh tenement. The novel explores dozens of stories of families and employs magic realism to give the feel of a fairy-tale or legend to the proceedings. Featuring horned women, mermaids and even WIlliam Burroughs, Luckenbooth is a striking achievement.

I love dark and obscure books but this was more stylistically disjointed than literary and comes across as pretentious rather than sincerely clever. It's such a shame because I was so excited for this!

I wanted to like this. I really really did. It's set in my favourite city, dark gritty magical realism with time crossing interweaving plotines.; it almost sounds written for me. However, I just could not get into it at all! I don't know if it was the plot or the prose but something just felt very jarring as I was reading this and I was not motivated to finish it. The best part was the way Edinburgh felt so alive in this novel, it truly captured a darker side of historical Edinburgh, but that just wasn't enough to keep me engaged in the story. Not for me but I can see why so many people regard this novel highly.

I had been so excited to read this book. However it seemed really odd to me, you see to get 3 chapters a person and then it just moved on. Not sure how they linked at all despite being based in the same building.

Just not for me unfortunately

I was drawn to this book because I'd heard good things about the author and it's set in my native city of Edinburgh.

I very much struggled to go along with this novel however. Its postmodern style which makes it hard to get a grip on anything which is happening or who anybody is and what holds it all together. This might work for some, but for myself, looking for interesting characters doing interesting things, I was enduring rather than enjoying.

This book is gritty and strange which is exactly what you would expect from a Jenni Fagan novel. Beautifully written and immersive.

Picture it, 1910, a girl in a coffin making her way to a tenement to get impregnated by a very rich man who can’t have a baby with his fiancé. Once Jessie gets to this hotel, some troubling situations make themselves known. After that, a curse is now attached to this place. Over the next nine decades, the curse makes its way all throughout this place. We hear all of their stories and listen to all the eventful mishappenings of their lives. As the curse becomes stronger, the biggest secret may just be revealed.

This was a very unusual and haunting book full of anguish and terror. Everyone who has lived in this tenement has a wicked story to tell and you won’t believe what goes on behind these closed doors. The more that I read of this book, the more it reminded me of the haunted and bizarre life of the Cecil Hotel. Which has recently opened back up. It was an interesting and unique read. Never read anything like this before and it threw me for a loop.

Luckenbooth had a creepy and gothic atmosphere which I love and this wound up being a decent story. It wasn’t as horrifying as I had hoped but I found myself wanting to find out more about the tenets and the curse that plagued the tenement. I really enjoyed reading Jessie’s story and those parts were my favorite. After reading this, I would definitely read more by this author

Luckenbooth takes us through generations of inhabitants of the tall Edinburgh house, mixing magic, politics, social realism and gothic horror with ease, or at least that’s how it feels to this delighted reader. It also comes across as a clear eyed love letter to Edinburgh itself, not turning away from the darker, dirtier parts, but plunging straight in and coming out the other side, exhilarated

I had been wanting to read this book for ages so when it was finally chosen for our Scottish Book Club read, I was thrilled.
It completely lived up to my expectations.
The epigram at the beginning is taken from this poem:

Edinburgh (by Hugh MacDiarmid)
But Edinburgh is a mad god’s dream
Fitful and dark,
Unseizable in Leith
And wildered by the Forth,
But irresistibly at last
Cleaving to sombre heights
Of passionate imagining
Till stonily,
From soaring battlements,
Earth eyes Eternity

-Hugh MacDiarmid (1892-1978)

Lacking sufficient words of my own to describe this book, this poem fits it well.
The book, like Edinburgh, is a mad dream - it flits between characters, between different timelines, between the physical and the supernatural, between love and hate, domesticity and violence, philosophy and practicality, reality and superstition, good and evil.

"Cleaving to sombre heights, Of passionate imagining" this sums up the book for me. It's so varied, with characters such as Jessie Macrae the Devil's daughter, Ivor the phengophobic miner, and Agnes the medium among many others. They all somehow inhabit the fringes of society and have stories like icebergs - most people only perceiving the tip of the depths that exist within each one of them.

Number 10 Luckenbooth close itself is a brooding presence, it holds and absorbs the stories of all those who pass through it and is a microcosm of Edinburgh through the ages.

Living in Edinburgh this books held special appeal as it captures aspects of the city so well - the good and the bad. It's a wonderful dark and twisty read, beautifully written, sometimes challenging but always engaging.
I loved it!

Rich, dark and hypnotic, this novel builds tale upon tale like the bricks of the Edinburgh house it chronicles. Original and unusual historical fiction of the highest order.

I was disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this. The description made it sound like it was my kind of book but I just couldn’t get past the style of writing. The short sentences made it feel too stilted and abrupt. Unfortunately I didn’t finish this one.

If this novel had been half as long I would be rating it at least a star higher. I feel like we reached what could have been an ending halfway through and then after that I lost a lot of interest.

The characters we met in the first half were also much more vibrant for me.

I didn't enjoy the sections with the poet, and the overly preachy political bent to the last few narrator's annoyed me, despite the fact that I agree with a lot of the sentiment.

I would try something else from this author - I see she has a book out next year that I would be interested to read.

My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I had very high expectations for this book, based on the description and the amazing first chapters. A curse on a tenement building in Edinburgh, intertwining stories over eight decades in the nine floor of the building. Unfortunately it lost my attention half way through.