The Knitting Station

by Kirsti Wishart

Hannah Richards, former code-breaker at Bletchley Park and gay before the time of liberation, is recovering from a mind broken by the strain of secrecy. With the Cuban missile crisis looming, she's one of a group of patients taken to Tharn, an island famed for its fantastic knitwear. Supervised by experimental psychologist Doctor Frederickson, their home will be the Knitting Factory, a Studio 54 for the Highlands, run by the mysterious Madam Jeanne. The Madame's daring concepts in knitwear have brought her into conflict with the native knitters, most notably the formidable Mrs Montgomery. Negotiating the tensions of the island Hannah is convinced Tharn is about to be invaded by Russian agents. Not knowing who to trust, least of all herself, she confronts technicolour Highlanders and mushroom-induced hallucinations, assisted by East End starlet, Elsie Brixton and a psychotic sheep, Bette in a Whisky Galore! for fans of Mad Men.

230 pages, Paperback

Published March 5, 2021

About the author

Kirsti Wishart has a PhD in Scottish Literature from the University of St. Andrews and received a New Writers Bursary from the Scottish Arts Council in 2005. Her short stories have appeared in New Writing Scotland, 404 Ink, Glasgow Review of Books, Product Magazine, The Seven Wonders of Scotland anthology and Biopolis: Tales of Urban Biology. She’s been a Hawthornden Fellow, a contestant in Literary Death Match and is a regular contributor to The One o' Clock Gun.

Reviews

[Martina Eastwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I work with sheep and I am always on the lookout for fiction with sheep in it. I usually get disappointed: I find sheep in literature are mostly (1) deployed as symbols pointing the reader to some aspect of Christian morality (purity, sacrifice, innocence) or (2) graphically killed to tell us the dispatcher is a bad man or to adumbrate the "real" murder yet to come or (3) just described for the sake of adding local background to stories set in Scotland or Iceland or New Zealand as appropriate. So I was delighted to find a book in which sheep are active participants with personality and clout. "Bette" will be remembered as one of the very few fully formed ovine protagonists who is not a symbol, allegory or allusion to something else but a ewe in her own right. I salut the author for that (and forgive her for suggesting sheep bite...they really don't). This is a cracking, fast-paced novel with more unexpected turns than you could shake a knitting bag at. And it will make you crave stovies...mmmh stovies.

[Helen Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the privilege of reading this pre-publication; I can't wait to to read it again and add a copy to my bookshelves!

The Knitting Station is a fabulously enjoyable lesbian code-breaking romp with a brilliant main character (I love Hannah so much!) and a fantastic supporting cast (especially seasoned knitter and all-round expert Mrs Montgomery, the plucky and glamorous Elsie Brixton, and Bette the unnervingly intelligent sheep). It has a page-turner of a plot, a beautifully atmospheric setting on a Scottish island and gorgeous writing. What more could anyone want in a novel?!

Full disclosure: Kirsti is a friend and writers' group colleague, and it's always an absolute delight to read her work.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just so you know, Kirsti's a friend of mine, but that doesn't stop me being a fan.

I had the pleasure of reading The Knitting Station before it came out and I really enjoyed it. Kirsti writes with wit and empathy, and weaves a tale of intrigue and humour. Characters, landscape and history knit together to form a post-IIWW mystery that is thoroughly entertaining.

I enjoyed The Knitting Station and hope you will too.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a knitter I had hoped this was going to be fun but actually I thought it was rather childish and more than a bit odd.

[Mona · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was a fun read, with amazing LGBTQ+ representation and a cast of wonderful female characters. The protagonist is Hannah, a former code breaker at Bletchley park, now wecovering from a mental breakdown caused by her job. She is sent to Tharn, an island off the coast of Scotland, to join a group of knitters led by the fearsome Mrs Montgomery.

Here, Hannah will get involved in a Soviet plot to take possession of the Island, which will put her and those she loves in great danger. It is a fun and unique way to overturn the espionage novel, and to make it feminine. One of the most interesting aspects of this book is how the genre that is masculine per-excellence, becomes completely dominated by women. Mrs Montgomery and her unlikely army of knitters, together with Hannah - and other unexpected allies - will take down the Bear and his violent Highlanders. At the centre of this narrative there are powerful women, all of them very different from each other, but that - in time of trouble - know how to come together for a greater good. One thing the story certainly doesn’t miss is showing how femininity can be ever so different, and still retain its power, showing that there is more than one way to be a woman in control of her life.

The setting is also quite special, an island far away from mainland, a close-knit (pun intended!) community of shepherds, weavers and knitters that are just like a very large family. They will be the ones to defend their land and their sheep from the invaders, without help from the outside world and from the classic dashing heroes of other spy stories. It’s a fun take on this genre, which Wishart stripped of all its classic (and overused) tropes. I would recommend you read this book, it is full of surprisingly funny moments, as well as unexpected twist of events. We never know who is going to be on the side of whom until the very end!

[GretchenGround · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bravura exploration of reality, illusion and representation that fuses tropes common to espionage and lesbianism, including patterns & codes, secrecy and knitting. As such it queries, or queers, utopian and dystopian literature, action movies, the aesthetics of topography, and more - the above are just what piqued this reader's interest. It, or its protagonist Hannah, wears its / her knowing with the delicacy & poise of the knitwear for which the fictional island setting, Tharn, is famed, and with brilliant comic timing. The sensory slides into the synaesthetic and then hallucenogenic as the action builds towards a series of carnivalesque episodes before the final chapter. The writing of these, very filmic, scenes, is especially accomplished and compelling.
Wishart's deft 'storytelling of knitwear' (p.35) weaves and spins rainbow strands from the histories of both textiles and sexuality (and island weather). Both allegory & actuality (and play on both), it should also be noted for its careful, creative presentation of mental health as a theme.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Knitting Station was a total blast - a modern take on the classic adventure novel bursting with fun and mischief. Set on Tharn, a remote Scottish island during the Cold War, it evokes books from a bygone era brimming with mystery, espionage and excitement. A ripping yarn, if you excuse the pun, except one filled with a cast of women as the heroes, instead of the atypical dashing square-jawed bloke. Knitting needle wielding heroes to be precise and the men, for the most part, are muppets, which makes for a refreshing change. You can tell the writer has had a lot of fun creating this tale and I was happy be swept along, with each chapter finishing on a mini cliffhanger. A wee purl worth seeking out. (Ok, I’ll stop now.)

[Beverlyb · Rating 2 out of 5]

**Some spoilers re plot devices**
I agree with Helen, this book was pretty childish. parts of it made no sense at all. I'm a knitter and so the knitting theme appealed to me, as did the setting (somewhere in the Shetland Isles). The writing was pretty bad, and not the way people react. Hallucinogens don't wear off in 20 minutes.
The tension between hand- and machine-knitting proponents was never resolved. The premise of a UK invasion by the then-extant USSR beginning somewhere in the Shetlands is laughable.
Wasted $18 on this.

[Genevieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t even really explain how much I enjoyed this book. Having read the Rose Code helped me understand what the main character likely experienced in her past and shaped who she was in this story. It delivered on its promises of counter-espionage, sheep, knitting, Scotland, mushrooms, and a gay main character. I will certainly be reading this again, and also looking for a stranded jumper pattern to knit in the colors of the island.

[Kathryn Castles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique, lovely, subtly sexy, occasionally delirious, a really fun read. It's clearly inspired by John Buchan style thrillers, but the writer makes the genre her own - and beautifully free of the sexism, homophobia, empiricism, etc, of the originals. This is Buchan's world the way I wish it would be, full of women I would love to meet. Plus the most gorgeous imaginary knitwear I've ever read.

[Drew Gummerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Aardman made films for adults then they would make something like this. Set during the Cold War, on a remote Scottish island, a bunch of knitters become involved in a plot to take over GB. Throw in some sheep, some psychedelic drugs and madcap shenanigans ensue. Loved it.

[Farah Mendlesohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pacing is a bit slow, but if you liked The Bletchley Circle or Ellen Galford’s Fires of Bride, you will like this.

[Claudia Sorsby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, it wasn't great literature, but it was fun, and I had to read it; how could I say no to a WWII thriller set in a remote Scottish island featuring a mysterious knitting factory?

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a hoot!