In Queen Macbeth Darkland Tales author Val McDermid exposes the patriarchal prejudices of history, and how Shakespeare fed us the myth of the Macbeths as indefensible murderous conspirators.
In This Spotlight On Queen Macbeth
About Queen Macbeth
Britain’s reigning “Queen of Crime” (The Scotsman), Val McDermid has ensnared audiences worldwide for over thirty years with her thrilling and masterfully plotted crime oeuvre. A radical, rip-roaring counter-narrative drawing on the historical record, Queen Macbeth delivers an illuminating portrait of Shakespeare’s most famous villain, and the treacherous pursuit of ambition that made her legendary.
A thousand years ago in an ancient Scottish landscape, a woman is on the run with her three companions – a healer, a weaver, and a seer. The men hunting her will kill her – because she is the only one who stands between them and their violent ambition. She is no lady: she is the first queen of Scotland, married to a king called Macbeth.
As the net closes in, what unfurls is a tale of passion, forced marriage, bloody massacre, and the harsh realities of medieval Scotland. At the heart of it is one strong, charismatic woman, who survived loss and jeopardy to outwit the endless plotting of a string of ruthless and power-hungry men. Her struggle won her a country. But now it could cost her life.
Immersive and utterly riveting, Queen Macbeth is an electric reimagining of one of Shakespeare’s most celebrated tragedies and reaffirms McDermid as one of the preeminent writers of our day.
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Publication date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN-13: 9780802164292
Praise for Queen Macbeth
“A page-turning tale of adversity and adventure, laughter and love, death and defiance.”—The Scotsman (UK)
“There’s much we don’t know about life in 10th-century Scotland, but McDermid supplements what we do know about medieval history with playful imagination and intertextual reference. It’ll be great fun for anyone who knows Shakespeare’s tragedy, offering the reader a fascinating glimpse of what lies behind the long shadow of Shakespeare’s politically motivated portrayal.”—Sydney Morning Herald
“McDermid allows Lady Macbeth to reclaim her real name—Gruoch—and casts her in an altogether more sympathetic light . . . a page-turner.”—The Irish News
“[McDermid] successfully dismantled my blood-soaked Shakespearean assumptions about Lady Macbeth.”—Libby Brooks, The Story of Childhood
“Sharp . . . a pushy, playful rewriting of Shakespeare and Scottish history in the context of the hurly-burly present.”—The Conversation
“It is Thelma and Louise with crossbows. The three companions are delightfully skilled, fast, furious, and deadly in battle . . . a terrific novella.”—West Highland Free Press
“A wondrous tale of subterfuge, courage, and resolve.”—Lovereading
“A historical romance seen from the perspective of a strong and determined woman fighting for life and love.”—Mail on Sunday
“Enthralling . . . McDermid offers a no-nonsense, authentic earthiness of language, dialogue and descriptive passages.”—Historical Novel Society
“McDermid plunges into medieval Scotland. Overturning Shakespeare’s propaganda, the reader will encounter a new Lady Macbeth amidst a web of vicious intrigue.”―Good Reading Magazine (Australia)
“Gripping . . . the mighty Val McDermid interpret[s] the story of Lady Macbeth with searing feminist power.”—Waterstones Says
About Val McDermid, Author of Queen Macbeth
Val McDermid is a number one bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than forty languages, and have sold over eighteen million copies. She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009, and received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award in 2011.
Val has served as a judge for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, and was Chair of the Wellcome Book Prize in 2017. She is the recipient of six honorary doctorates and is an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She writes full-time and divides her time between Edinburgh and East Neuk of Fife.
You can connect with Val McDermid on her website.
Titles by Val McDermid
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