'The Unpicking' by Donna Moore

Fly on the Wall Press, 2023

ISBN: 9781915789051

Genre: Historical, Thriller

 

"I had read enough mystery stories to know that girls who went out to meet strangers at night never came to a good end..."

 

Stirling, 1877. Lillias Gilfillan, a recently orphaned girl of sixteen, falls in love and elopes with a man who sees her as wealthy and naïve: ‘a little boat without its oars’. In a sea of rising debt and deception, Lillias must learn quickly, or drown.

 

Glasgow, 1894. Clementina knows little mercy living in a home for ‘wayward girls’. With the ‘Jingling Devil’ always lurking in the shadows and a child growing inside her, can she outrun him and save her best friend in the process?

 

Glasgow, 1919. Mabel is one of the first policewomen in Glasgow, on a mission to find a murderer. In doing so, she finds a web of corruption and now the ‘Jingling Devil’ wants her dead.

 

‘The Unpicking’ spans three generations of ‘hysterical women’ who take on systemic corruption and injustice, despite all odds.

 

"Phenomenally good. Donna Moore's third novel is deadly serious. The three characters are strong and brave, for the situations they find themselves in. They use all their energy on trying to make things better; staying alive; but the world isn't cooperating with them. But working together, women can do a lot." – Ann Giles, The Book Witch

 

"With a wonderfully realised cast of characters and fine eye for detail, The Unpicking is grimy, exquisite and utterly compelling!" - Dr Zoë Strachan, University of Glasgow

 

"each lead character, in spite of their courage, strength and determination, has a gentleness at their core that it’s impossible not to become fond of" - Nigel Bird, author of the Southsiders series

 

"An utterly compelling story with three glorious women protagonists you're rooting for as soon as you meet them. I loved it." - Sarah Ward author of The Birthday Girl