We're so delighted to welcome novelist Lesley McDowell to Rare Birds to discuss her novel Love and Other Poisons which publishes in July.

This gripping historical novel is based on the true story of Madeleine Smith, a young
Scottish socialite who was accused of murdering her lover and the fascinating mystery around her sudden disappearance years later. We can't wait to sit down with Lesley to discuss this book!

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

Timings

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

About the book

1857, Glasgow.

A young socialite named Madeleine Smith stands accused of murdering her lover. Thousands wait outside the court to hear the result. The scandalous nature of the affair, detailed explicitly in letters published in newspapers across the world, has made her case a worldwide sensation. But when the jury find themselves unable to decide whether she is guilty, they render a verdict of 'Not Proven' – and Madeleine is freed.

1927, New York.

Harry Townsend, a handsome Hollywood film scout believes he has found the woman once known as Madeleine Smith. He wants to tell her story on film for the new 'talkie' generation. Since her trial she has lived under many names, as a glamourous society hostess in bohemian Bloomsbury to the likes of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, George Bernard Shaw and William Morris. Until suddenly, in 1890, when she disappeared off the face of the earth.

Could this quiet, secretive widow of an Irish labourer be the same Madeleine Smith who
once stood trial for murder and escaped?

She has one last secret to reveal. Will Harry persuade her to tell it?

About the author

Lesley McDowell’s debut novel The Picnic came out in 2007. In 2010 she published Between the Sheets: The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th-Century Women Writers, which was shortlisted for the non-fiction prize in the 2011 Scottish Book Awards. Her second novel Unfashioned Creatures, about Mary Shelley's Scottish childhood friend, was published in 2013. 

Lesley was a literary critic for The Herald, The Scotsman, The Independent, TLS and others. She has a PhD on the work of James Joyce, and has won three Creative Scotland
writers' bursaries. Her third novel Clairmont came out to widespread reviews in 2024 and was a The Scotsman Book of the Year.

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