Scotland: Her Story

by Rosemary Goring (Editor)

Scotland’s history has been told many times, but never exclusively by its women. This book takes a unique perspective on dramatic national events as well as ordinary life, as experienced by women down the centuries. From the saintly but severe medieval Queen Margaret to today’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, it encompasses women from all stations of class and fame and notoriety, offering a tantalising view of what happened to them, and how they felt. Drawing on court and kirk records, exchequer rolls and treasurer’s accounts, diaries and memoirs, chap books and newspapers, government reports and eye-witness statements, Scotland: Her Story brings to life the half of history that has for too long been hidden or ignored.

Features material by from a hugely diverse range of authors, including:

The Maid of Norway • Princess Matilda • St Margaret • Margaret Tudor • Mary, Queen of Scots • Lady Grizel Baillie • Elsie Inglis • Mary Slessor • Catherine Dickens • Jane Carlyle • Lesely Riddoch • Catherine Carswell • Marie Stopes • Nan Shepherd • Leila Aboulela • Sue Black •Mary Contini • Rona Cameron • Elaine C. Smith • Jessie Kesson • Winnie Ewing • Muriel Spark • Liz Lochhead • Lulu • Janice Galloway • Jackie Kay • Ali Smith • Liz McColgan • Judy Murray • Nicola Benedetti • Nicola Sturgeon

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Scotland, Feminism

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Rosemary Goring was born in Dunbar and studied at the University of St Andrews. After graduation, she worked at W&R Chambers as a reference editor before becoming literary editor of Scotland on Sunday. She is currently literary editor and columnist for The Herald.

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Scotland: Her Story' is a collection of brief historical records from chronicles, letters, diaries, interviews, and other documents telling the stories of Scottish women from the 7th century to the 21st. Given the survivor bias of written material, the earlier pieces are almost exclusively written by men and centre upon royal women. By the 18th century, though, female voices start to proliferate. The brevity of each piece makes for rather a patchwork effect, although the extracts are well chosen to illustrate Scottish women's lives across the centuries. I still found it easy to become immersed in the book and thought it cohered effectively. Poverty, marriage, fashion, motherhood, religion, illness, sex, and crime are recurring themes.

Much of the content is frankly depressing, even the most recent material. The account of a mother whose little daughter was murdered in the Dunblane massacre made me cry. I appreciated the inclusion of a trans woman's recollections, which were of course characterised by the transphobia she has experienced. The final piece is a thoughtful interview with Nicola Sturgeon, who is currently leading Scotland's response to the pandemic with vastly greater competence than the pathetic excuse for a government down in Westminster. Despite the volume and variety of female suffering chronicled here, there is also a sense of progress and indomitability. Although I didn't exactly enjoy it, I appreciated the insight into Scottish women's lives. It was good to learn more about how ordinary, and unusual, women experienced historic events. As with my previous book Bodies of Light, I would only guardedly recommend it as a lockdown read. Perhaps better to dip into so it doesn't make you sad, but I am incapable of that type of reading.

[Johanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of nuggets telling Scotlands history over the last 1000+ years through the experiences of Scottish women. The extracts range from the famous to the infamous and the aristos to the poorest. Well worth a read

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

First 1/3 was right up my alley with medieval era to 1600s pieces. Unfortunately I lost interest before I could finish.

[Alma · Rating 2 out of 5]

a collection of letters, interviews and some random documents... Not really going deep into any stories. Fine for reading during commute.

[Jane Peymen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of writings from women throughout Scottish history from 1587 to 2014. Many interesting, more obscure stories. The older writings fill about half the book. I found some of these harder to read, with a few in Scots but I particularly enjoyed learning more about Mary Queen of Scots, Black Agnes, Tumbling Lassie and Flora MacDonald. Stories from Judy Murray, Kareen Turner, who is a Dunblane mum and Winnie Ewing in the second half were particularly notable for me with Kareen’s chapter transporting me back to hearing the awful news. I read this book the whole way through as that’s how I tend to read books, but you may want to intersperse with a fun fictional story! :-)

[Smathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to dip in and out, with around 200 articles, letters, commentaries, reports about the socio-economic life of Scottish women. From female miners to writers and campaigners, the book covers from the 7th century to present day. Rosemary Goring introduces each piece with a summary putting it in context.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fascinating collection of pieces detailing women’s history in Scotland. In truth, I don’t read many history books, but this was really interesting and gave a good account of the history of not just upper class women but working class women too.

[Emma Dargue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting and i learned a lot about the women of Scotland from the early 900's to almost the current day. Touching on subjects such as rape, prostituition and death as well as a lot of other topics.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and diverse, ranging from centuries of Scottish history to pick out accounts by or about women- few hundreds of years ago but more as time went on!

[Janet Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

A long read, a great book to dip into and so many interesting stories. I'm glad I finished it.

[Fenella Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative and at times powerful book to supplement someone’s existing knowledge of Scottish history.
Main downside is that some of the early Scots language I wish had had a translation included. Some of the pieces even had it written with original spelling, which you can imagine could be difficult to unpick.
I’m glad I read it and think it should be used in schoolchildren’s learning to balance the absence of women’s voices and experiences from traditional history teaching.