Gruoch is the daughter of a deposed king and the last of a legendary Pictish clan. Her Grandmother predicts she will be Queen of Alba and Gruoch bears this in mind when she has to throw over her betrothed to marry Duncan, the heir to the throne. However events conspire against this and Gruoch has to make a marriage of convenience to survive. Will she be able to fulfil her ambitions?
This book is the subject of rave reviews everywhere and I started reading it with great anticipation. I am not saying it disappointed because it is a really good tale and told well but it is a little 'light' in the descriptions. One would expect a lot more visceral writing and more darkness in the deeper parts of the story. Therefore to my mind this is a YA novel rather than true historical fiction. It's still great but less than I expected, ( )

The story of the Scottish queen Lady MacBethad rather than Shakespeare’s version of MacBeth. It’s the 11thC and Gruoch, who is a daughter of druids, has been prophesied that she will be queen of Alpha. She is promised to Duncan, the King’s heir, but the path to queendom is anything but smooth.

I enjoyed this book and thought it was well written. It was quite gripping and fast paced. However, Gruoch did irritate me slightly as she did tend to open her mouth before engaging her brain, not advisable in those days and even less advisable when you were a woman. I’m surprised she lived to tell the tale sometimes. Having said all that, the research gone into writing Gruoch’s story was inspiring. It gave a good insight into the era.

I read this book in stave format via the Pigeonhole app and I looked forward to reading each instalment every day for ten days. An entertaining and exciting read. Will there be a sequel? There’s plenty more of Lady MacBethad’s story to tell, I’m sure! ( )