*This is a review I did for the May issue of Historical Novels Review, the magazine of The Historical Novel Society. It was selected as an Editor’s Choice.
In 11th-century Alba (Scotland), young Gruach, the future Lady Macbeth, is sent away from her family to apprentice with a Pict healer. Five-year-old Macbeth is sent from the house of his father, the Mormaer of Moray, to the royal court of his grandfather, King Malcolm II. He comes of age alongside his foster brother, Duncan. While Macbeth is educated to be a leader, Gruach is taught healing arts and Pict traditions, and then summoned back to Malcolm’s court, where she is soon given away in marriage. The journey of the Macbeths is not the famed and false one of Shakespeare, but a mixture of both their true and imagined place in Scotland’s history. This is the first book in the Alba series.
This intriguing novel creates a glimpse of the little-known childhoods of Gruach and Macbeth. Gruach is shown in a much more sympathetic and factual light than in Shakespeare’s play. There are three points of view—Macbeth, Gruach, and a fictional poet, Lapwing. The three witches of Macbeth are replaced in this novel by three spiritual belief systems—Pict, Celtic, and Christian. Gruach’s Pict spiritual experiences are fascinating, and Lapwing still speaks of the Celtic gods, although Christianity is taking over.
The backstabbing politics of a royal court make a compelling read. Macbeth’s journey to becoming Mormaer of Moray will lead him to Gruach. She is married to the cruel, violent, and abusive Gillecomgan. As her brother Nechtan says to Macbeth, “My sister Daimhin—Gruach—know that she is no wife to Gillecomgan, but a hostage, and pregnant.” The novel ends, but not the story, as there will be a second book coming. The writing is beautiful, lyrical, and descriptive, and it captures the period perfectly. To say this book is well-researched is an understatement. Highly recommended.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (From Amazon and Her Website)
Valerie Nieman
“Upon the Corner of the Moon” is the story of the Macbeths you’ve never known: Destined to unite Scotland, they first had to survive childhoods as pawns in a dynastic struggle.
Previous novels include “Dead Hand,” a sequel for “To the Bones,” a blend of paranormal mystery, romantic suspense, with the distinctive tang of Appalachia along with Irish lore. It has some very dark elements but overall rather spritely, I think. (“To the Bones” was shortlisted for both the Manly Wade Wellman Award and the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award.) “In the Lonely Backwater” was honored with the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for the best book of fiction by a North Carolina writer. It draws on all the people I’ve been — a reporter, a farmer, a sailor, a teacher, and always, a walker and observer. It’s an official International Pulpwood Queens Book Club pick, won the Mystery/Suspense category prize from American Writing Awards, and was a finalist at Forewords INDIES.
Another recent title, “Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse,” is set in a mid-century carnival and features poems that appeared in The Missouri Review, Chautauqua, and other journals. More than 15 years of writing — and a week of study at Coney Island Museum — went into telling the story of Dinah and The Professor.
I have held grants from the NEA, and the North Carolina and West Virginia arts councils. I earned degrees from West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte and worked as a reporter in coal country and a writing professor at NC A&T State University.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Website | Instagram | X | Facebook
PURCHASE LINK: Click on Image Below To View on Amazon:
You must be logged in to post a comment.