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,

This was a great read. Lots of daring do and family feuds,, set in a time when Scotland was a bit wilder than now. There were some very good characters and the settings felt very real. Nice to seea woman taking control in a time when men were dominant. It would be lovely if there was a sequel where Ladt McBethad achieves her goal.

This boom was enticing from start to finish and even with the characters being as unlikeable as they are, you do feel for them and are rooting for them to win the games they find themselves in. Grouch was a fierce and at times pushy character to follow, it was clear she would do whatever she needed to, in order to survive and gain what she wanted. It was nice to see her story come full circle. The writing was very very well paced and I fully enjoyed the characters and their story.

Lady MacBethad tells the story of Gruoch Ingen Bolte, then Queen who inspired Shakespeare’s Lady MacBeth. This is a fitional account of Gruoch’s life, from childhood to her marriage to MacBethad, with whom she will fulfil her destiny. This is fast paced read, full of drama, conspiracy and romance, that gives a new perspective to Shakespeare’s Queen.

I have to say MacBeth is not my favourite Shakespeare play, probably due to studying it for my GCSE’s, but after reading this book I have a new respect for Lady MacBeth. Isabelle Schuler reinvents this dark and wicked Queen and portrays a tenacious young woman who fights for survival against the odds. I loved Gruoch, a young woman who received a prophecy from her Druid grandmother that she would be queen one day. Her self belief in this prophecy makes her determined, strong willed and full of self belief. However, she was also kind and had empathy for others making her a very likeable heroine. Her intelligence politicaly and scholarly make her a formidable adversary, and one never to be underestimated. I really warmed to her as her tenacity and self preservation at all costs drove her onwards.

I find it hard to believe that Lady MacBethad is the debut novel from Isabelle Schuler. The storytelling is masterful and from the first page you know this book is taking you on a fascinating and fast paced journey. The political intrigue, power struggles, and battles are thrilling and at times I felt the suspense and need for revenge seemed to drip of the page. There was so much detail in the prose that built a perfect picture of Scotland at this time, a place of different alligences and under constant threat of attack, from Northumbria in the south and the Norse from the North, a place of beauty as well as bleakness.

I think Lady MacBethad was a fabulous read of power, fate, politics and love. The fact that Isabelle Schuler has recreated Gruoch, making her likeable, a wonderful heroine whom I admired is quite a feat, as I’m not a fan of her in the play. Brilliant attention to detail, wounderful characterisation and a plot that hits the road running from the first page make this an impressive and inspired read. Simply sensational.

Wow, excellent book! Wonderful characters taking you through Scottish History. You are swept along with this book into the politics of early Scotland, complete with woodsmoke, fear and intrigue. I was so disappointed when it ended. and I look forward to reading the author's next book.

‘Immortalised
Queen
Survive.’

As a child, Gruoch's grandmother prophecies that she will one day be Queen of Alba and reclaim the lands of her Pictish kin. When, many years later, she is betrothed to Duncan, the heir-elect, the prophecy appears to come true. Determined to never to be as powerless as her parents, Gruoch leaves behind her home, her family and her friend MacBethad, and travels to the royal seat at Scone to seal her fate.

But when a deadly turn of events forces Gruoch to flee Duncan and the capital, Gruoch finds herself at the mercy of an old enemy.

Her hope of becoming Queen all but lost, Gruoch does what she must to survive, until she is given a choice: live a long, peaceful life but fall into obscurity, or seize her chance for vengeance and a path back to the throne.

‘You will be greater than all of us. You will be immortalised.’

This book is simply amazing! I loved Gruoch, as a young girl she is feisty and headstrong, trying to find her place in the world but all the time aware of her destiny.
This land is painted beautifully in words, the imagery is strong and evocative and I was totally absorbed into the story of the future Scottish Queen.

‘The battle is won, little one,’ I whispered over him. ‘Now watch me win the war.’

As the tale unfolds, Gruoch must betray those who love her, fight for herself and her future and transforms herself into the strong and fearless woman who inspired Shakespeare’s most famous Queen. It is so gripping, I was entranced by this one!

‘When shall we meet again?
In thunder, lightning or in rain?
When the chaos has come and gone, When the battle’s lost and won.
There shall we meet MacBeth.’

Powerfully told, I couldn’t stop reading and was utterly under its spell. A masterful piece of writing!

Phenomenal book, best read of 2023 so far ( I've read about 15 books to date). Well written page turner with some great characters.i'll be watching out for this author in the future. Highly recommend!

‘Don’t be afraid, Groa, daughter of Boedhe, son of Coinneach, the rightful King of Alba. … You will be the greatest of us all. Your fame will spread through all of Alba and into England. All the land your feet can touch and your eyes can see is yours, and you belong to it.’

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing U.K. Raven Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Lady MacBethad’ by Isabelle Schuler.

This highly anticipated debut work of historical fiction was adapted from the author’s 2019 screenplay, ‘Queen Hereafter’. It is a reimaging of the early life of Gruoch ingen Boite – the Scottish queen who inspired one of Shakespeare's most famous characters.

Gruoch (Groa) is the daughter of an ousted king and the proud descendant of the Picti and their ancient druids. Her father, Boedhe, has embraced the new Christian faith and demanded that his wife break all ties with the pagan traditions of her people. Yet Gruoch’s grandmother still follows these ways and makes the above prediction about the young girl. Gruoch assumes that it means that one day she will be Queen of Alba and nothing will deter the fulfilment of this ambition.

While the reader is aware that this prophecy links to how she will be portrayed in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Gruoch is only aware of the power and prestige that she will gain as queen, not of a future literary heritage.

Following her mother’s death, Gruoch’s father elects to leave their lands behind taking Gruoch and her younger brother to Moray, to live under the protection of his ally, Findlaich. While there Gruoch befriends MacBethad, Findlaich’s son. When she is betrothed to Duncan, the heir apparent to King Malcolm, Gruoch leaves MacBethad and her family behind to travel to the royal seat of Scone to embrace her destiny.

However, Gruoch is unprepared 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.

With her hopes of becoming Queen seemingly lost, Gruoch does what she must to survive. Yet she vows that one day she will fulfill her destiny no matter what it takes….

I found ‘Lady MacBethad’ a powerful work of historical fiction that quickly swept me up in Gruoch’s account of her life. Given the violence inherent during the period and how often rulers are usurped by such means, it provides context for her later actions. Still, Gruoch is undoubtedly ruthless.

I found Isabelle Schuler’s storytelling compelling and I appreciated how she depicted the conflict between the pagan traditions and Christianity. Given that the novel is set in the 11th Century, it illustrates how long these traditions remained relevant to those who continued to feel a connection to nature and the land and how some rulers blended pagan with Christian practices to unite their people.

In her Historical Note, Isabelle Schuler provides fascinating details of the historical figures portrayed within her novel and indicates that she placed a number of ‘Easter eggs’ within the text linked to the Scottish play. There’s certainly scope for a sequel if Isabelle Schuler chooses.

Overall, I was very impressed by ‘Lady MacBethad’ and consider it one of my top reads of 2023. I certainly will be recommending it to fellow lovers of historical fiction and look forward to Isabelle Schuler’s future projects.

A great read based somewhat on one of Shakespeare's best known stories.

Follow the tale of Gruoch as she seeks to become queen ....coming up against many twists and turns as she aims for her rightful position.

A very well written book with great characters making it a great historical read.

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. An entertaining and exciting read. Will there be a sequel? There’s plenty more of Lady MacBethad’s story to tell, I’m sure!

I must admit I had a slow start with this book - first time I had read historical fiction so struggled sometimes with the language. However once I got into the story I paced through it quite quickly.

I’ve still
Got some mixed feelings about the book as I didn’t connect with Gruoch (Lady Macbethad) and couldn’t see how it was all going to pan out, as obviously Shakespeares Macbeth has given the spoiler to the ending! I think I was expecting more of a romance than a coming of age story so would recommend this as such… I can see those who love historical fiction and a strong female protagonist really enjoying this book. Ultimately though I did cheer at the end and really liked the adaptation of the famous “when shall we three meet again”.

Schuler turns the spotlight on that most maligned of Shakespearean anti-heroines, Lady Macbeth. Born on her mother’s side as one in a long line of seers, in a nice nod to the play’s three witches she is told early that she will be queen. Pacy writing and enough of a twist on the familiar plot to keep things interesting. Recommended for fans of reimagined historical characters and stories.

I want you to throw out your visions and thoughts and ideas on Lady Macbeth and her personality and read this. I studied Macbeth (you might have heard of this play by some Shakespeare dude - there’s a killing of a king, Lady Macbeth tuts at her pathetic husband, then someone with the made up name of Banquo also gets killed) and I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, plays should be performed, not studied by a bunch of teenagers who mostly just want to sleep. (No beef if you love William, he’s just not for me)

My point is, the play really made me have this specific idea of Lady Macbeth in my mind, and therefore the actual person she’s based off Lady MacBethad, but she’s so not this at all. From the start, we know her as Gruoch, and she’s fearless and awesome and would’ve been slightly terrifying to grow up with but I kind of fell in love with her a little bit? Some of the decisions she makes are truly horrible and heartbreaking but still I was rooting for her all the way to the end?! You see her naivety at the start when she’s so young, but how strong she is even then and how it builds and build through the book. She’s an incredible character and her relationships with a lot of the other characters are so intricately woven in to the story.

It probably depends on how you read this, but you could frame it as a romance, some might, some might not, but there is a serious case of childhood friends to lovers and I am here for it!

I can’t really describe what made this such a perfect read to me, I was thrust into this world where I was immediately enthralled with the characters and the setting and I couldn’t put it down. Isabelle has turned a tiny piece of history that I couldn’t have cared less about before, into this beautiful intense story that I am now obsessed with!!

Gruoch is a descendant of the Picts, her grandmother was the daughter of druids. Ailith, Grouch’s mother, also practiced druidism, much to the dismay of her husband Boedhe who was a Price of Alba and Gruoch’s father.

Gruoch had a close relationship with her grandmother, who rather than calling her by her Christian name, insisted on Groa, which Boedhe thought was a heathen practice, therefore he had the grandmother banished. Groa was only allowed to visit her grandmother once a year and she longed for those visits. During one of them, her grandmother shared with her a prophecy that one day Groa will be ‘the greatest of them all’, even greater than the Queen.

From then on, Gruoch’s life gets consistently tougher. Forced to move to Moray and live at a family friend’s court, she meets young MacBethad. She finds him very quiet, but the two of them become friends nonetheless.

MacBethad falls in love with Gruoch, however, she has grander plans. If she’s to become Queen, she must marry the heir-elect, Duncan.

However, life throws more obstacles in Gruoch’s way… Will she succeed in her ambition of becoming ‘the greatest of them all’?

I really enjoyed this book. This is not your standard retelling of another myth/folklore legend where you know what happens. There are some parallels to Shakespeare’s Macbeth and we meet some characters that appeared in the play, however, this is a totally original story, which I very much appreciated.

I found Gruoch a strong and inspiring character. She was resilient and like a phoenix from the ashes, kept reinventing herself, time and time again. In a male dominated world, she used her brain and cunning skills to achieve her means.

This book accurately portrays of how things can quickly change. Lots of scheming and plotting is involved, too!

Thank you to Raven Books for approving my NetGalley request to read and review this title.

MacBeth is one Shakespeare play I have not read or seen so I went into this read with no expectations. I don't think you really need to be a Shakespeare fan to appreciate Lady MacBethad. This is a great mix between Historical fact and a retelling of Lady MacBeth's story before she married MacBeth. I loved that the author incorporated so much 'truth' to this story and I found myself googling Characters and parts of History. Lady MacBethad is a really well researched, fascinatin, gritty and often brutal story but with love and drama thrown in to balance it out. A perfect all rounder you wont want to put down.

As an English teacher who loves Shakespeare I’m always going to pick up a retelling of a play or reimagining of a character, and Lady Macbethad did not disappoint.

The story (as you might have guessed from the title) follows Gruoch, daughter of the rightful King of Scotland, in a tale of survival that spans from her childhood to adulthood.

She is told as a child by her grandmother, a Druid who has visions of the future, that she is destined for greatness and will be immortalised, and from that point Gruoch does whatever is in her power to achieve her destiny of being Queen of Alba. There’s sisterhood, betrayal, ambition, loss, marriage and - of course - murder, but Gruoch isn’t the Machiavellian wife we see in Shakespeare’s tale, nor is Macbethad the Macbeth you might expect. She’s a strongwilled and determined woman carving her life out in a man’s world and doing her best for herself and those she loves. This is very much her story, with Macbethad being in England for much of the novel, and the reframing of this as Gruoch’s story is compelling and intriguing. The descriptions of Scotland are atmospheric and immersive, I loved side characters such as Donalda, and it has such a satisfying ending. I will absolutely read more novels by this writer and will definitely be recommending this one to my colleagues and fellow Shakespeare fans!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an e-arc of this book.

MacBeth is one of favourite Shakespeare plays, so I jumped at the chance to read this book about Gruoch, the inspiration for Lady MacBeth, and gosh I loved it! We follow Gruoch from being a young girl born of Pagan roots as she strives to fulfil her grandmother’s prophecy that she will become Queen of Alba, and what a life she lives. Fighting not only against the powerful male leaders of the era, but also against many scheming women who would happily see her fall, Gruoch possesses a great strength and resolve, never doubting her destiny. I loved her character and the workings of her mind; her relationships with the people of her lands; her strong sense of family. It’s a book that had me turning the pages late into the night and definitely one that I’ll be recommending to my friends. Absolutely brilliant!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for a review.

Thanks to Netgalley, Bloomsbury and Isabelle Schuler for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

If there is any advice I would give someone picking this up it's that you need to throw away what you know. Don't come into this expecting a rework of Shakespeare's play. If you can do that, then you'll find a book that's rich with researched and well woven history.

I was drawn into this book immediately - Gruoch (eventually to become Lady Macbeth) knows from an early age that she is destined to become Queen. Between historical fact and imagining this story traces her rise to glory in a very readable way. Her journey, her decisions, her determination to succeed are tempered with empathy at times. So well written and I will look out for more from this author. I will also be rereading Shakespeare's Macbeth!
Many thanks to Netgalley/Isabelle Schuler/Bloomsbury Publishing for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

As a literature kid, I've always been been in love with Lady Macbeth and this book definitely had my intrigued. It's clearly well written as it kept my intrigue the whole time I read it- I couldn't put it down.
It was a joy from start to finish and I enjoyed every second of it.
can't honestly think of any improvements would have made to this book; It's perfect. Right down from the pacing to the characters.
It would have been so easy to fall into the trap of everyone except for the MC is awful so she has to rise above. She was ambitious from the beginning and it was such a relief to read.
We see Gruoch's journey into the queen that she is and it was a joy. So often books gloss over childhood but this one did not and it made so much sense for the author to time it the way they did.
I have no complaints and will now be recommending it for an eternity.