Lady Macbeth

by Susan Fraser King

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307409751
Publisher:	Crown Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/12/2008
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	519,155
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

With graduate degrees in art and art history, former college lecturer Susan Fraser King is the author of several bestselling novels praised for lyrical style and historical accuracy. Raised in upstate New York and a frequent visitor to Scotland, she lives in Maryland with her family.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Anno Domini 1025

Scarce nine the first time I was stolen away, I remember a wild and unthinking fright as I was snatched from my pony's back and dragged into the arms of one of the men who rode toward my father's escort party. We were heading north to watch our kinsman, King Malcolm, second of the name, hold an autumnal court on the moot hill at Scone. Proud of my shaggy garron and painted saddle, I insisted on riding alone in the length between my father, older brother Farquhar, and several of their retainers. Then horsemen emerged from a fringe of trees and came straight for us. As men shouted and horses reared, a warrior reached out and plucked me up like a poppet.

The memories of that day are vivid but disjointed. His furs smelled rancid and smoky; his whiskered chin was broad from my view beneath, trapped before him in the saddle; his fingers on the reins were grimy and powerful. I can recall the russet brown of his cloak, but I do not recall his name. I know it was never spoken in my hearing for years afterward.

Kicking, shrieking, twisting like an eel in the arms of that stranger, I managed to tear his dagger from his belt, slicing my thumb like a sausage. With no idea how to handle the thing, I meant to defend myself. A fierce urge insisted upon it.

He snatched the dagger back, but next I tore the large round brooch from his cloak, shredding the wool, and whipped it upward to jab it into his cheek. That slowed him. Swearing, he released me for an instant, and I lurched from the saddle, falling and breaking my arm in my thud to cold earth. Rolling by accident more than intent, I narrowly missed the forelegs of a horse as my kinsmen thundered past me.

Shouting then, and steel and iron clashed, and within minutes of yanking me from my pretty saddle, the man was dead, and two of his guard with him. My father and the others took them down with swift and ugly certainty.

Huddled beside the road on the frosted earth, I watched, arm aching, heart slamming, while men fought and died. Until then, I had never seen a skirmish, nor so much blood. I had heard steel ring against steel in the practice yard of our fortress in Fife, but I had never seen blade sink into flesh, nor heard the soft, surprised gasp as the soul abandons the body without warning. Since then, I have heard it too often.

I own that cloak pin still, good bronze and smooth jet, and I will never wear it. In the little casket with my jewels, its dusky gleam reminds me to stay strong and wary.

My brother, Farquhar, died of the wounds he took in my defense. I saw the angled sprawl of his body, though my father's men shielded me from the full sight. I remember, too, the taste of my salt tears, and my father's roar of grief echoing in the chill air.

Farquhar left a small son, Malcolm, and a pale wife with a grieving spirit, who soon returned to her Lowland family, leaving Malcolm to foster with Bodhe. My father found solace in the boy's presence, and he swore to discover who had plotted the attack that had nearly taken his daughter and had killed his son.

Through subtle inquiries, Bodhe learned that the men were sent by Crinan, the lay abbot of Dunkeld as well as mormaer--the Celtic equivalent to Saxon earl or Norse jarl--of Atholl. He was married to the king's eldest daughter. My father already loathed him as an arrogant fool, and now outright hated him. At the king's next judgment court, Bodhe accused Crinan of Atholl of plotting to abduct me to marry Crinan's son Duncan, a young warrior, and of cruelly killing Farquhar mac Bodhe. Denying all, Crinan claimed that Bodhe attacked his men without provocation, thereby inviting Farquhar's death himself.

The guilty party would have to pay cro, a customary penalty in recompense, a certain amount of livestock or other goods according to rank. While they awaited the king's decision, tensions were such that Bodhe and Crinan nearly came to blows, but for the king's housecarls who stood between them.

Justice stumbled on barren ground that day, for my father paid, as a prince, many cows each for Crinan's deceased men, some to their families and some to the king. Crinan basked in smug victory, keeping the fat coffers of his church at Dunkeld, and the continued favor of his royal father-in-law. The king, old Malcolm, showed no loyalty toward Bodhe and Farquhar, his own blood kin. My father never forgot it. Added to past offenses, the whole was fuel for fire.

Early on I learned why we despised Malcolm's faction of our kinsmen. Our kin group had endured the deaths of others, including Bodhe's father, King Kenneth, the third of the name. He had been murdered by then-young Malcolm, called the Destroyer, who took his cousin's throne.

My blood had even more merit once Bodhe had no other heir. Because I am descended in a direct line from Celtic kings, the purest royal blood courses through me and blushes my skin. I could prick a finger and it would be gold to some.

I am Gruadh inghean Bodhe mac Cinead mhic Dubh--daughter of Bodhe son of Kenneth son of Duff. My grandfathers going back were kings of Scots, and I was born a princess of the house of Clan Gabhran that boasts Kenneth mac Alpin, the first king of Scots and Picts together. The line reaches back to the Picts who were native to this land, and the Scotti who came over from Ireland to settle as the Dalriadans in Argyll. We are proud of our heritage, and know the old names by heart: son of, son of.

My lineage combines the ancient royal branches of Scotland through my father, and through my mother, the proud line of the high kings of Ireland back to Niall of the Nine Hostages and beyond. Our old tree has many branches, some warring and some not, and divides along two main trunks, Clan Gabhran and Clan Loarne, descended from a single king, ages past.

Because a man could claim the throne of Scotland by marrying me, I was not safe. Nor were my kinsmen, come to that: if they were killed, one after another, our line would be eliminated at its heart, making room for others' ambitions. Such is the way of things when one's heritage is ancient, pure, and royal.

Little good did the blood of ancients do me. I was like a lark spiraling upward, unaware of the hawks above judging time and distance to the prize.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The voice of the Scottish queen just burns off the page and will forever change the way you view Macbeth and his lady." —-Mary Jo Putney, New York Times bestselling author

Reading Group Guide

1. What did you already know about Gruadh and Macbeth before reading Lady Macbeth?

2. In the prologue Lady Gruadh tells us, “Malcolm Canmore . . . will order his clerics to record Macbeth's life. Within those pages, they will seek to ruin his deeds and his name” (page 3). Did Malcolm Canmore succeed in destroying Macbeth’s reputation?

3. Gruadh was named “Hreowe” by Father Anselm. What does this name mean? How does it define and affect Gruadh's life?

4. Describe the “marking” on Gruadh's shoulder. What is its significance? (see page 24)

5. Discuss the differences between the Saxon practice of primogeniture and the Celtic pattern of inheritance of titles and land. How did this affect Macbeth and Gruadh? How did it affect Scotland?

6. Bodhe approved of Macbeth taking Gruadh in marriage. Do you believe her father anticipated Gilcomgan's death? If Bodhe had hoped for Gruadh to marry Macbeth all along, then why was Macbeth not her first husband?

7. Thorfin Sigurdsson, the Raven-Feeder, first steals Gruadh away from her father when she is thirteen years old. Why? When does she see Thorfin again? Does she learn to trust him?

8. When Gruadh meets Macbeth for the first time she tells him she would never marry him because “men intent on destroying each other cannot make very good husbands” (page 49). How was her initial reaction correct? How was it inaccurate?

9. Old Celtic traditions and Catholicism were practiceded by Gruadh and Macbeth, as well as by most people in Scotland at the time the novel takes place. How were these two belief systems intertwined? What were the tensions between thetwo?

10. When did Gruadh first know she had a hint of talent for the Sight? Did any of her visions come true?

11. Gruadh makes an oath: “Upon this sword, which Bodhe gave me . . . I swear to protect my child from all your cold scheming.. . . ” (page 105). What does she do specifically to uphold that oath? Would you have done the same?

12. Catriona was Gruadh's “womb-woman,” but later their relationship changed. How? Did they ever restore their friendship? Why or why not? What would you have done?

13. After her father's death Gruadh thinks, “Had I been a son to Bodhe, revenge would have been mine quick. As his daughter, I had to wait upon others” (page 171). Discuss the gender limitations imposed on Gruadh. Was she ever able to eschew those strictures?

14. What is the story of Deirdre? How did it relate to Gruadh's own fate (page 190)?

15. What was Duncan's motivation for granting Gruadh the responsibility of crowning rights? What was her response? (page 218) How did this later affect her family line?

16. Discuss Gruadh’s visits to Mother Enya. What does Enya give Gruadh to help protect Macbeth?

17. Macbeth says: “When kin slaughters kin, it cannot always be judged poorly. It may look like the devil's work, but sometimes it is necessary” (page 236). What does “necessary” refer to in this instance?

18. What was Gruadh's promise to Sybilla? How does she fulfill it, and seal her husband's fate?

19. Shakespeare's play immortalized Macbeth, associating him with witches, ghosts, and overambition; the play is considered by many to be cursed. Do you believe Macbeth himself was cursed?

20. How is Susan Fraser King's Macbeth different from Shakespeare's character? What are their similarities?

Editorial Reviews

Historical romance novelist King leaps into deeper historical waters with this captivating take on Lady Macbeth, who tells her side of the story with a forceful, uncompromising daring. Gruadh, the future Lady Macbeth and the daughter of 11th-century Scottish prince Bodhe, survives several kidnappings in her girlhood and, determined to uphold the traditions of fierce Celtic women warriors, learns how to fight. "Rue" meets Macbeth, whose royal blood is nearly as pure as hers, but her father marries her off to the warrior Gillecomgan, of whom she grows fond. Macbeth kills him during Rue's pregnancy and immediately marries her, as is his right as victor-and there soon prove to be many more compelling reasons for the match. As King Malcolm's tyranny causes unrest, the Macbeths embark on a bloody campaign to win over their countrymen. Based on historical evidence and recent theories of the era, this is an epic tale written in high-voltage prose. King's novel will thrill lovers of Shakespeare adaptations and delight anyone who wants to enjoy a ripping tale of love and ambition. (Feb.)

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Publishers Weekly

Celtic magic mixed with early Christianity weaves through this retelling of the life of the legendary, power-mad Scottish queen. All the elements of Shakespeare's famous play are present: the betrayals, the magic, the medieval setting, and the bloody rise of Macbeth from lord to king through murder. But King in her hardcover debut draws on the historical record and research done by the great historical novelist Dorothy Dunnett for King Hereafterto rework the familiar story from the viewpoint of Macbeth's lady, whose name according to an 11th-century document was Gruadh. She was of Scots royal blood, and thus it can be gathered, and as King retells it, that she was from an early age a pawn for power. The author has published as Susan King and Sarah Gabriel. Recommended for historical fiction collections.
—Mary Kay Bird-Guilliams

Library Journal

"The voice of the Scottish queen just burns off the page and will forever change the way you view Macbeth and his lady." ---Mary Jo Putney, New York Times bestselling author

From the Publisher

The historical Lady Macbeth was an altogether more nuanced woman than the striving, difficult character in Shakespeare's play. As novelist Susan Fraser King reveals in this thoroughly researched and intriguing tale, the real eleventh-century Lady Gruadh turned a forced marriage to Scottish King Mac Bethad into a powerhouse partnership. Wanda McCaddon's fine, perceptive narration is key to the book's success. Her voice lilting, she enlivens the paragraphs of historical information and drives the narrative vividly through adventure, romance, and danger. She also imbues the main characters with enough personality—here an inflection, there a shift in accent—to clarify a character's motivation without getting in the way. This is just the ticket for lovers of the best-quality historical fiction. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2009 - AudioFile