Margaret celebrates a novel and an award

She has also received a Hawthornden Fellowship, which will see her giving presentations to various groups in the Borders and beyond, “which I’d like to do more of,” she said.

“I have also just undertaken training with the Scottish Book Trust in order to be available to mentor teenage writers.”

Historical novelist Margaret is no stranger to accolades.

Her debut novel won the Historical Fiction section of the Harper Collins/Alan Titchmarsh People’s Novelist Competition and was subsequently published by Caperaillie in November 2012.

And last year she was awarded the Beryl Bainbridge Award for Best First Time Novelist.

Margaret’s latest novel, A house Divided, is launched tonight (Thursday, October 29) with an reading and ‘Q and A’ session held at Mainstreet Trading, St Boswells, from 6pm.