The New Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women

Contains biographies of over 1000 notable Scottish women, including many Orkney related, including:

Alison Balfour; executed for conspiracy to murder by witchcraft
Mary Brunton; novelist
Bessie Grieve; writer (aka Countrywoman)
Isabel Gunn; Hudson's Bay Company labourer - cross dresser
Florence Marian McNeill; writer and folklorist
Gunnie Moberg; photographer and gardener
Ann (Agnes) Scott Moncrieff; poet, short story and children's writer
Margaret Tait; film-maker