English Summary/英文概要： What if history got everything wrong about you? Labeled an ’addict’ when in truth, you were being slowly poisoned — not by chance, but by design. Wealthy, widowed, and Black in 1820s Scotland, Helen Reid was an outsider, and a target. Manipulated by a trusted ‘friend’ who aimed to steal her fortune, Helen’s life unravels in a chilling tale of murder, theft, and racial prejudice.

Spanning from the brutal plantations of British Guiana to an explosive court trial in Britain, this is the untold true story of the Edmonstone women – victims of greed, cruelty, and a society built on slavery. With gothic overtones and echoes of Jane Eyre, Rebecca, and White Debt, this gripping narrative blends real letters, trial transcripts, and newly uncovered documents with reimagined scenes to expose how far the legacy of slavery reached, and who paid the price.

A compelling blend of historical investigation and personal reckoning, A Family of Notorious Slavers explores the author’s family link to the story and also exposes the glorified naturalist Charles Waterton as an enslaver, exploring how he and Charles Edmonstone, as slave owners, influenced Wakefield’s landscape, both past and present.

Sarah is an established Yorkshire Bylines writer (https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/author/sarahcobham/) specialising in researching and writing about the lives of notable women from Wakefield’s past to bring their achievements into the present. It was her 9-part series ‘Petticoat Patrimony’ in 2023 which first exposed the myths surrounding Charles Waterton’s claim that he ‘Never possessed a slave in his life’. This new information is featured by award-winning author Rick Broadbent in his chapter about Charles Waterton, ‘The Nondescript’ in his latest book Now Then, a biography of Yorkshire. As a guest writer for The Yorkshire Post and The Wakefield Express Sarah is also an accomplished public speaker, co researcher and writer of Clara Clarkson’s Merrie Wakefield published in 2021, co-writer of the award-winning short film Clara and author of the Lady Catherine a play for the theatre. www.forgottenwomenwake.com