We're so excited to welcome acclaimed authors Cathryn Kemp & Mairi Kidd to store this November to celebrate the publications of their new books - They Can't Burn Us All & The Second Best Whore in Town.

Tickets are £5 and can be redeemed against any purchase on the evening of the event. 

Timings

• Doors open: 6:30pm
• Talk begins: 7:00pm 

They Can't Burn Us All

Westfjords, Iceland. 1655 Þuríður Jónsdóttir has grown up praying to the old gods and watching her father and brother practise rune magic.

But now, a witch-hunting craze is sweeping across the land of ice and fire, fuelled by the Protestant Reformation. Unlike elsewhere in Europe, those condemned as witches here are not women, but men of learning. And when Þuríður’s father and brother are accused of witchcraft and condemned to burn at the stake, she is helpless to save them.

As Lutheran Pastor Jón Magnússon's accusing gaze turns to Þuríður herself, the first woman to be called ‘witch’, he will find that she is no ordinary woman. She is prepared to fight back. But at what cost? And in an age of fear and persecution, whose side will the community take? Who will fight for justice?

The Second Best Whore in Town

A short story collection inspired by Scotland's forgotten women, exploring a rich tapestry of lives connected by their spirit and determination to survive - and thrive - in a world made by men.

The daughter of a warrior-king seeks induction into the wonders of the written word; a grieving widow refuses to part from her husband's heart; a modern-day seal wife loses the one magical object that could free her to return to her own life.

Drawing on years of research into chronicles, ballads, manuscripts, and the half-remembered lore of Scotland's past, Mairi Kidd brings to life women both historical and imagined, their voices resonant with courage, cunning, and rebellion. Whether confronting the constraints of marriage, the dangers of clan feuds, or the injustices of the law, these characters refuse to be mere footnotes in the tales of men.

About the authors

Cathryn Kemp is a Sunday Times bestselling writer, with a prolific career writing celebrity, inspirational, true crime, addiction and nostalgia titles. Her personal memoir Coming Clean won the Big Red Read Prize for Non-Fiction. A Poisoner’s Tale her first foray into historical fiction won the HWA Debut Crown Award in 2025.

When not researching dark, dangerous and beguiling women from history, Cathryn can be found on the south coast with her son and her familiar, a ginger cat called Gingey.

Mairi Kidd graduated with a First in Celtic Studies from the University of Edinburgh and has worked in books ever since. Her novel The Specimens - a retelling of the 1828 crimes of Burke and Hare - was Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month and the short stories from her collection We Are All Witches formed the basis for the award-winning 'Heal and Harrow' project.

Her novel Poor Creatures is an immersive reimagining of the young Mary Shelley before she became the author of Frankenstein, and Newes of Witches is a tale of courage and women quietly resisting the systems built to break them, set against the backdrop the 17th-century witch hunts. She lives by the sea in Edinburgh with her illustrator husband and their rescue cat.

If you have any questions regarding the event or to request additional accessibility accommodations please contact hello@rarebirdsbooks.com