Susan Fraser King's Lady Macbeth jumped off the shelf and into my hand the last time I was in Barnes and Noble. I did try to put it back 'cause I'm not really crazy about the trend of books based on non-protagonists from other sources. Wicked? Except for the idea that the Witch of the East had no arms (from The Wizard of Oz, who'd know?) and the encounter between Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West, I found the book to be a big bore. Renfield I tried and lasted my fifty pages. But Lady Macbeth? Who wouldn't want to know her side of the story? And that's exactly what Lady Macbeth is. It never crosses paths with Shakespeare's Macbeth; indeed, Lady Macbeth wrote her book to counter those horrible versions everyone believes. And it works. Lady Macbeth describes Lady Macbeth's meeting and marriage to Macbeth—they were in love and happy, Malcolm's attacks that led up to the one-on-one combat between Macbeth and Malcolm, the peaceful years of Macbeth's reign in Scotland, and ultimately his defeat by Duncan, Malcolm's grandson. And, yes, Duncan did attack through a woods so thick that it looked like the very trees were moving.
I was interested in the author's use of language—a lot of words I'd never seen before—but all the ones I've found have been historically correct. Examples:
1) Housecarls—servants or bodyguards in a royal home
2) Wattle—poles and filler used to make walls
3) Mormaer—couldn't find. Anyone know?
4) Catch—I'm assuming from the book's context that an old meaning was to become pregnant but didn't find it elsewhere. And Lady Macbeth knew she hadn't caught when she was "in flowers." Any historical-novel readers find these before?
5) Firth—an inlet of the sea. This one I'd seen before but never checked the meaning. Or maybe I'm just thinking of an actor. Colin Firth?
6) Hauberk—long tunic of chain mail
7) Ell—an English linear measure
Anyway, I liked the slant, and the writing impressed me. Guess I'm glad Lady Macbeth jumped into my hand.
