Novel set in SCOTLAND and ICELAND

1st June 2026

The Repentants by Kate Forster, novel set in SCOTLAND and ICELAND.

The Repentants, with its tagline ‘Her scandal, his revenge’ is a fantastic tale from Kate Foster, told in first person by three women, Florrie, Eliza, and Hallgerð, of the troubles that men cause them, set in Scotland and Iceland in the 1790s.

Florrie is the young, well to do wife of Jonny Aitken, well respected employer in the town of St Monans, running the salt mills and coal mines. Aged 20, she is due to come into a large inheritance at 21, money which makes her richer than her husband, and is protected legally so that even at her majority it remains hers.

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Unfortunately Jonny no longer has his initial passion for Florrie, and their couplings are lacklustre, and she hankers for more, for the ecstasy she has read of in her ladies magazine. Enter Gunnar, a Danish business associate of Jonny’s, who really SEES Florrie, and this is how the book opens, after a prologue in which Jonny’s windmill burns down, with Florrie hurrying to an assignation in a small local village with Gunnar, where she experiences the ecstasy she craved.

She is caught in flagrante, and is forced to take her place on the repentance bench at the local church, where she meets Eliza, a valued salt worker for the Aitkens, there for non-attendance at church. Florrie is impressed by this girl’s fortitude, unbowed by this humiliation.

Jonny is to go to Iceland for a business project there, but Florrie insists on going with him as otherwise it will look like he has left her after her shame. Jonny says their maid will not go with her, she isn’t stoic enough, so Florrie says she’ll take Eliza, who doesn’t want to go, but is forced by the fact of her being an indentured serf from birth.

In Iceland it quickly becomes clear that Jonny knows the reason for Eliza’s sabbath breaching, and has manipulated Florrie into bringing her along, as he has plans for Eliza and himself going forward. He also has sinister plans for Florrie, putting into place a plan that could circumvent the legal protections on her fortune so he can get his vengeful hands on it.

Their new neighbour, Hallgerð, finds herself with reason to assist Jonny when she finds out more about Florrie’s shame. Hallgerð’s brother has been arrested for a murder she’s certain he didn’t commit, and keeping on the good side of Count Levitzau – who has commandeered her house, the finest in the neighbourhood – is the only way for her to hope for justice and an early release for her brother, who is being held on the prison ship docked in Reykjavik, from which Jonny and the Count plan to use the prisoners as a cheap workforce for their salt industry.

As the tension mounts, both Eliza and Florrie realise they need to escape, but in the mans’ world of the 1790s this is easier said than done. And escaping into intemperate and isolated Iceland is not really an option, as that way inevitably lies an early, cold, and frozen death in the wilderness.

The book is written in fairly short chapters from each of the three women, and the plot and tension and peril mount at a perfect pace, keeping you gripped and engaged throughout. The characters are well drawn and you can really connect with them, feel for them and be rooting for them against what seem to be insurmountable odds. Each woman is resourceful in her own way, and although Florrie at times comes across as a bit of a spoiled madam, she is no more than the product of her upbringing, and although I might have rolled my eyes on more than one occasion it didn’t put me off her! The book sees her go through quite the journey of growth and maturing.

There was potential at the end for an additional outcome, but I think that’s left for the reader to decide for themselves whether that particular eventuality might come to pass…

This is the first book by this author that I have read, but won’t be the last! A resounding 5 stars for the plot, that draws you in to the helplessness of these women against the machinations of these controlling men and their restrictive, patriarchal society. And for the beautifully drawn locations of St Monans and Iceland, and the bitter journey by ship to get between the two, another well earned 5 stars for setting.

The novel is inspired by an historical attempt by the Scots to annex Iceland as a remote prison location. More about this will be included in the final book in a ‘historical note’ section, and I am looking forward to finding out more on this when the book is out.

Lee-Anne for the TripFiction Team

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