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From towering crags to misted moors and formidable fortresses, Lady Macbeth transports readers to the heart of eleventh-century Scotland, painting a bold, vivid portrait of a woman much maligned by history. Lady Gruadh—Rue—is the last female descendant of Scotland’s most royal line. Married to a powerful northern lord, she is widowed while still carrying his child and forced to marry her husband’s murderer: a rising warlord named Macbeth. As she encounters danger from Vikings, Saxons, and treacherous Scottish lords, Rue begins to respect the man she once despised. When she learns that Macbeth’s complex ambitions extend beyond the borders of the vast northern region, she realizes that only Macbeth can unite Scotland. But his wife’s royal blood is the key to his ultimate success. Determined to protect her son and a proud legacy of warrior kings and strong women, Rue invokes the ancient wisdom and secret practices of her female ancestors as she strives to hold her own in a warrior society. Finally, side by side as the last Celtic king and queen of Scotland, she and Macbeth must face the gathering storm brought on by their combined destiny. This is Lady Macbeth as you’ve never seen her.
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If you are looking for a novelized version of Shakespeare's extraordinary Scottish Play, this is not it. This is a novel about the actual king Macbeth and queen Rue. Based on the Annals of Ulster and other sources, we withness Gruadh's life from a young age to the age of forty. Through her, we experience the constant battles for the control over Scotland, and the importance of the brave warrior Macbeth, the man who has passed from history into legend.
Elements of folklore are blended into the story, casting an otherwordly light over the fates of the characters, and the sacred places of Iona and Scone become alive through King's pen. Having had the fortune to visit them some years ago during a trip to Scotland and Ireland, I can say that her prose does justice to the intense feeling that these two places provoke to the visitor.
Susan Fraser King shows, once again, that she is one of the best representatives of how powerful Historical fiction is, when done right.