LADY MACBETH

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 [Published: SEPTEMBER 2009]