A Blether and a Bevvy with Lucy Ribchester

18th century Edinburgh’s Music Scene: from High Society to Murder Ballads

Join author and former Aberdour local Lucy Ribchester for a journey into the glittering and grisly world of 18th century Edinburgh, the setting for her latest novel Murder Ballad. With a heady mix of camp and high drama, the novel tells the story of a street ballad singer’s rise into high society, and the notorious murder she sings of.

Delve into the real life locations and historical figures who inspired the book. Learn about St Cecilia’s hall, once home to the Edinburgh Musical Society, where the famous castrato Tenducci performed, and about the gory tradition of murder ballads and execution ballads, sung and sold in the streets outside.

Lucy Ribchester was born in Edinburgh and grew up in Aberdour. She has written three historical novels, The Hourglass Factory, The Amber Shadows and Murder Ballad, and two contemporary thrillers under the name Elle Connel.

She won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in 2013 and in 2015 The Hourglass Factory was nominated for the Historical Writers Association Debut Crown. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for the Costa Short Story Award and Manchester Fiction Prize. She is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.