After a public health career in Peru, Spain and Scotland, Martin Donaghy became a volunteer with the Govan Stones, a community heritage project in Glasgow. A lifelong history afficionado, he learned there of the Vinegar Letters, a famous early 19th century scandal which embroiled the city. Fascinated by the conflict in mores, personality and class at a time of social and political unrest, he wrote this novel based on accounts of the affair.
It is the mid-1820s and the great city of Glasgow, beneath its Presbyterian shell, is buzzing with gentlemen’s clubs, rivalries and gossip. At the centre of genteel society, which is known as The Quality, presides the wealthy wit, John Kingan Esquire. Having amassed a considerable fortune from tra...