Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
This book is correctly described as an historical epic, I thought the author created the atmosphere of the times very well. The constant threat associated with being a powerless woman in a bloodthirsty world of men who had to collect armies to rule underlies the story. The main character has her goal set once her grandmother gives her prophecy and scheming abounds. I found it a little hard to read with the unfamiliar names but it is well worth persevering across the years.

I really enjoyed this. I like modern books who are able to tell a classic story with a new perspective. Top rated from me.

A brilliant novel that had me hooked from the get go! Struggled to put this book down and will recommend to lots of people

I put off reading this book and I regret it. It has it all - origin story, lies, revenge and a little nostaligia.

As a fictionalised story based on a woman who inspired so much this is a brilliant 'retelling'

This fictionalised account of the life of Gruoch, the person behind Shakespeare's character Lady MacBeth, retells events from her perspective, bringing strength, vulnerability and humanity to a character who is often portrayed as cold and heartless.

Gruoch is a proud descendant of the Picti and their ancient druids. Although her parents have converted to Christianity, her grandmother still practices the Pagan traditions and predicts a great future for Gruoch.

From this point, Gruoch sets her sights on becoming Queen of Alba and nothing can deter her from her perceived destiny, showing great determination in the face of the changing political landscape and alliances.

Absolutely adored this book! As a huge Shakespeare fan, I loved how the original story of Macbeth was turned on it's head and given even more depth to it.

I recently had the opportunity to read Isabelle Schuler’s novel, ‘Lady MacBethad.’ As a fan of Shakespeare’s works, I was intrigued by the idea of a retelling of ‘Macbeth’ from Lady Macbeth’s perspective. I must say, I was not disappointed.

Schuler’s writing style is captivating and engaging, drawing the reader in from the very first page. The story is told from Lady Macbeth’s point of view, allowing the reader to see into the mind of one of Shakespeare’s most infamous characters. Schuler does a fantastic job of delving into the psyche of Lady Macbeth, showcasing her ambition, manipulative nature, and ultimately, her descent into madness.

What I appreciated most about this novel was the way Schuler humanized Lady Macbeth. Often portrayed as a cold and heartless villain, Schuler’s characterization of her showed a vulnerable and complex woman. Lady Macbeth’s actions are not excused, but they are given context and depth, making her a more sympathetic character.

The plot of ‘Lady MacBethad’ stays true to the original play, but Schuler adds her own twists and turns, keeping the story fresh and unpredictable. The pacing is perfect, with just the right amount of tension and suspense to keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

One aspect of the novel that stood out to me was Schuler’s use of language. She seamlessly weaves in phrases and lines from the original play, paying homage to Shakespeare’s work while also adding her own unique voice. It was a delight to see how she incorporated these elements into the story.

In addition to the captivating storytelling, ‘Lady MacBethad’ also has a strong message about the dangers of ambition and the consequences of one’s actions. It serves as a cautionary tale, reminding readers that greed and ambition can lead to destruction.

Overall, ‘Lady MacBethad’ is a gripping and thought-provoking read. Isabelle Schuler has done a remarkable job of retelling a classic story in a fresh and compelling way. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who loves Shakespeare, historical fiction, or a good psychological thriller.

This is an amazing read, a fiction that retells the story of a historical character on which Lady Macbeth was based. Grouch is a strong female lead and at the same time, a vulnerable character, who seems to know what she wants but has to go through a lot to achieve it.

It is very well written and it also gives a huge insight and background into Shakespeare's Macbeth. Highly recommend it if you like to read around.

Many thanks to @netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this brilliant read.

Meet Gruoch (Groa), a proud descendant of the Picti and their ancient druids. Even though her father, Boedhe, has converted to Christianity and expects her mother to abandon all pagan traditions, Gruoch's grandmother still practices these ways and predicts Gruoch's future. The young girl believes this is a sign that she will one day become the Queen of Alba and is determined to make it happen.

Gruoch's unwavering belief in her destiny is inspiring! She sees the power and prestige of being Queen and won't let anything stop her from achieving her goal. Although she knows little, her legacy will extend far beyond her lifetime as she is destined to be immortalized in Shakespeare's play. But for now, Gruoch is focused on her future and the excitement of what is yet to come. Her determination is contagious, and we can't wait to see what she accomplishes!

After Gruoch's mother passed away, her father decided to move with Gruoch and her little brother to Moray, where they could live safely under the protection of his ally, Findlaich. While there, Gruoch became good friends with Findlaich's son, MacBethad. However, things changed when she was promised to Duncan, the heir to King Malcolm's throne. Even though it was tough, Gruoch left her family and MacBethad behind to embark on her destiny and travel to the royal seat of Scone.
However, Gruoch needs to prepare for the intrigues and hostility of the royal court. When a deadly turn of events leads her to flee Scone, she finds herself alone and vulnerable. Given that following the murder of Findlaich, her father, brother, and MacBethad have left Moray and entered the service of King Cnut in England, she has no safe refuge.

Wow, "Lady Macbeth" is an incredible historical fiction book that tells the story of Gruoch, a woman with big dreams of becoming a queen but facing many challenges. The setting is intense and violent, but it really helps you understand the context of Gruoch's later actions. Despite everything she goes through, Gruoch is one of the most determined and unrelenting characters I've ever read about. I promise you won't be able to put this book down!

I was impressed by Isabelle Schuler's storytelling style. Her novel was immersive and compelling. In the Historical Note section of the book, she provided fascinating details about the historical figures that were portrayed. She mentioned several 'Easter eggs' hidden within the text linked to the Scottish play. If Isabelle Schuler decides to write a sequel, it has potential.

As a huge fan of Macbeth, I was so excited to finally get a novel from the point of view of Lady Macbeth, but I have to say, it didn’t live up to my expectations.

Set before the events of Shakespeare’s play, Lady MacBethad is the origin story of how a descendant of ancient druids, takes matters into her own hands to fulfil her destiny of becoming Queen. Along the way we meet all of the important characters who shape her past and future including Duncan and of course Macbeth himself.

The novel started off strong, drawing me into Gruoch’s young life, but I quickly became bored of her petty and childish responses to situations. I just feel like I was expecting more from our central character. I wanted more fire, more depth and more personality. At times she is too self-pitying and less admirable than I hoped. I wanted to hear the voice of a young Lady Macbeth and why she became the woman she did, and I just didn’t get it. In fact, she just became rather irritating which is unfortunate when she’s the protagonist.

I also found the pacing too slow and it was slightly longer than necessary. However, Schuler’s writing is readable and entertaining as a whole. The setting of medieval Scotland is beautiful, if a little inaccurate of dates etc.

Overall just disappointing for me.

This book is a really good read. I love it because it is a retelling of a historical character that I actually knew nothing about and having moved to Scotland 9 years ago I found the history of places I know quite well fascinating. Also, it is so good as it is effectively the origin story for one of main character’s in Shakespeare’s Macbeth giving that famous play more meaning. Well written historical fiction with a strong female lead.

I enjoyed this though I felt it should be aimed more at a YA audience. I found the writing quite juvenile so it didn’t hold my attention.

This was an interesting spin on the backstory of Lady Macbeth. I liked the Celtic mystical element, that fits well with the play. The only jarring section was the 'When shall we meet again' which felt forced to form the basis of 'when shall we three meet again'.

Lady Macbethad

I was first introduced to Macbeth thanks to my crush on Sean Bean. I was living in Milton Keynes at the time and studying for my English Lit degree. We knew that Macbeth was coming in our final year and when we found out that Sean Bean would be playing the title role at our local theatre we had to see it. It was a production that had some unusual choices, but an incredibly clever banquet scene that has stayed with me. However, it was the more recent Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard film that I found absolutely spellbinding and moving in it’s depiction of Macbeth and his wife as two grieving parents. It gave some context to their actions in the play, particularly Lady Macbeth who is often depicted as a power hungry harpy who coerces her husband into a violent act that he’s unable to live with. I’ve always thought Lady Macbeth was done a disservice, depicted rather like Eve in the garden of Eden as a woman dissatisfied with her lot who convinces her husband to eat apples from the only tree God expressly told them not to touch. According to most dramatists she’s greedy, dissatisfied and power hungry. She was ripe for a rewrite and here it is in Lady Macbethad from …….

Gruoch has druid heritage and her grandmother prophesied that she would be Queen of Alba. She believes in this prophecy and will try her best to fulfil it. She was born the daughter of a King, even though her father has now been ousted. Her heart and desires are with Macbeth but she is the betrothed of Duncan, the heir elect and marriage to him should enable her to fulfil her destiny. Yet life at court comes with it’s difficulties, it’s lonely and uneasy to know every woman at court would do anything to be in her position. He coronation approaches, with the women keeping her at a distance and giving her the cold shoulder. An unexpected turn of events tears her plans apart and she’s forced to run for her life and leave her ambitions for the crown behind. Now she must fight just to survive, never mind the crown.

This was a really interesting take on the tale of Macbeth and a woman whose motivations are always unclear. There’s a feel of Eve about her, it is Macbeth who wields the knife yet in many depictions I’ve seen, the emphasis is on Lady Macbeth as the instigator of the killings. The evil temptress whispering in the blameless man’s ear. I was intrigued by a retelling of the story, based on a real woman who did marry a man called Macbethad who became the king of Scotland. The book starts as a fiction about Gruoch, but becomes an origin story for the character of Lady Macbeth. I thought these two women were brought together well, creating one character. She does have aspects of character that Shakespeare establishes in the play, becoming a scheming, power hungry woman. She’s also rather paranoid and even violent in her own right. However, whereas in the play we don’t know why she is this way, here we get her back story and have an opportunity to understand her a little better. Even if we don’t necessarily like her.

Macbethad seemed to be more balanced and measured in character. He stands out for this, which seems an irony when I expected to respond to Gruoch more sympathetically. There are other characters in the book based on real people from history, covering their family allegiances and their conflicts. I think it’s so difficult to marry historical facts with a fictional story in this way and I was impressed with the author’s attention to detail. She sets the book firmly in it’s Scottish setting by using Scottish Gaelic, as well as the stories and folklore of the area. She brought to life the conflict between the established pagan traditions and the growing practice of Christianity, something I found really interesting. Her descriptions of the place felt vibrant and alive, I could actually see it. She is equally vivid when it comes to the more brutal aspects of the story. There were parts of this book that I enjoyed immensely and I would definitely recommend it to those interesting in historical fiction and Shakespeare.

This book was fascinating and an interesting take on Lady Macbeth's history before the story we know from Shakespeare.

After reading the acknowledgements and finding out how well researched this was, and the facts within, it made it the intriguing, and gave detail to how she could have been how she was.

This was fast-paced and showed how the royal families looked after their own.

I would recommend this book to everyone who has even a vague knowledge of Macbeth and has interest in the history and culture of England and Scotland.

I really enjoyed this book, as someone who is always on the lookout for retellings of Shakespeare, I really enjoyed the 'Hamnet' style vibe of centring women in a story of violence, and the accessibility of the writing made it quick to engage with. It reminded me of Song of Achilles with the bildungsroman style narrative, whilst following this idealised version of a mythic personality. Seeing the rise and fall of the main character was engrossing and entertaining. I'd be very interested in seeing more from this author.

I quite enjoyed this book. It was gripping and had a good pace, however I felt that some of the scenes where far too descriptive and long. The characters where interesting, and overall the plot was intriguing.

I'm normally a big historical fiction fan but this one just didn't hit the spot for me!

I have recommended it to others as I know they will enjoy it more but it was pacing issues for me!

I did enjoy the authors writing style though.

For me this was the third book in a row of somewhat similar books I'd read the weeks before. First MATRIX by Lauren Groff, which was just brilliant and outstanding in every way, then LEARWIFE by J.R. Thorpe, which had a very distinct poetic quality and I also really loved. Then this one and I'm sorry to say that it kind of fell off pretty hard in comparison.
While I do support the idea of this story being told, what rubbed me the wrong way is that it is essentially YA romance. The plot is laid out in a YA manner, the character building felt very YA and the writing, too. So I didn't feel at home in this book at all.
It started off well enough. Even though I don't gel with child narrators I was kind of into the story and the character. The mysteriousnes of the landscape, the pagan myths etc. all got me at the beginning. But as it went on I'm sorry to say that much of the book turned sour on me quickly.
The point of view did not seem stringent, much of the writing, the pacing and composition felt uneven. Parts of it just hammered messages into the reader. I would have recommended a thourough editing, probably cutting a third of the whole book and straightening out some bumps, maybe adding something like undefinedness?
I wanted to like it, but unfortunately the execution was not up to the premise in my opinion.
Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy.

I usually love historical fiction but I wasn't crazy about this one. It jumped around too much, all the characters were highly irritating and hard to sympathise with, and the overall plot lacked cohesion. It was not very gripping either. Sadly disappointing.