📖 Book Review ~ Lady MacBethad by Isabelle Schuler

Bloomsbury
2 March 2023

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Power. History. Love. Hate. Vengeance. She will be Queen. Whatever it takes...

Daughter of an ousted king, descendant of ancient druids, as a child it is prophesied that one day Gruoch will be queen of Alba.

When she is betrothed to Duncan, heir elect, this appears to confirm the prophecy. She leaves behind her home, her family and her close friend MacBethad, and travels to the royal seat at Scone to embrace her new position.

But nothing is as Gruoch anticipates. Duncan's court is filled with sly words and unfriendly faces, women desperate to usurp her position, and others whose motives are shrouded in mystery. As her coronation approaches, a deadly turn of events forces Gruoch to flee Duncan and the capital, finding herself alone, vulnerable and at the mercy of an old enemy. Her hope of becoming Queen all but lost, Gruoch does what she must to survive, vowing that one day she will fulfill her destiny and take up the future owed to her. Whatever it may take.

📖 My Review...

Gruoch, daughter of Boite mac Cináeda, was born around 1015, and her early life is beautifully reimagined in this story which looks at the myths and legends which surrounds the story of Shakespeare's Lady MacBeth. Over the course of the story we get to know Gruoch as a troubled child, forced to flee her homeland, and obsessed with her grandmother's prophecy that one day she would be a great queen, and we watch in anticipation as she sets off on the road to her destiny.

There is much to enjoy in this imagined story about the early life of one of the most controversial figures in English literature and yet historically very little is actually known about the woman who would, one day, become Lady Macbeth. However, the author has done her research well, the ancient way of life is so beautifully described that I could clearly imagine Gruoch growing from rebellious child, to her more fraught teenage years as she struggles with marriage to Duncan, and her obsession that one day she would be Queen of Alba.  

This is definitely not Shakespeare's Macbeth reimagined, it so much more than that, and works beautifully as imaginative historical fiction which leads us back in time to the life of a proud and forceful young woman who believed in her destiny and who made her own distinct mark on the history of Scotland. 

I have both read, and listened, to my copy of Lady MacBethad and have enjoyed both experiences. The audio version is beautifully narrated by Sara Vickers ,whose authentic Scottish accent brought the story vividly alive, and yet I also became immersed in reading the book for myself.

You can read an interview with the author on her publisher's website by clicking here

About the Author

Isabelle Schuler is a Swiss-American actress, writer, and former bookseller. Lady MacBethad is her debut novel.

Twitter@belleschuler #LadyMacbethad

@bloomsburybooks