QUEEN MACBETH

One of Scotland’s premier crime writers takes on the legendary life of Macbeth’s fiery queen, Gruoch.

Medieval Scotland is a violent landscape, where kingdoms are passed down not merely through bloodlines but through battle and bloodshed. For years, Gruoch has been at its center, first as the wife of the tyrannical Gille Coemgáin, then reigning for nearly two decades alongside the love of her life, Macbeth, and finally as the queen mother when her son assumes the throne. Offering a completely different take from Shakespeare’s gloomy, guilt-ridden Lady Macbeth, this slim novel uses a dual timeline. In the present, McDermid tells the story of Gruoch and her three ladies in waiting (a sly spin on Shakespeare’s “toil and trouble” witches), who all become fugitives as they flee from an attempted coup during the reign of Gruoch’s son. In the past are flashbacks to Gruoch’s life with her first husband, Gille, her schemes to wind up with Macbeth, and their life together as rulers of the kingdom of Moray. Part of the Darkland Tales series, in which Scottish writers take on foundational moments in the country’s history and mythology, this novel seems unexpected territory for McDermid, but she plays to her strengths. The result is a surprisingly suspenseful tale—a special challenge in historical fiction when the general contours of a narrative are already known. Even within those confines, McDermid manages twists and turns that not only show her chops as a mystery novelist, but upend the cultural stranglehold Shakespeare’s antiheroine has on our understanding of this intriguing real-life woman.

A love letter to Scotland via a fast and fresh look at one of its monumental—and monumentally misunderstood—figures.