Lady Macbeth
This is a standalone, early medieval horror fantasy. Roscille of Breizh travels from Brittany to Scotland for an arranged marriage with Macbeth, the Thane of Glammis. He and his men are all pretty much brutal warriors, misogynistic, superstitious, treacherous, and a little dim. Roscille’s serving woman disappears—presumably killed—and the only other women in the castle are three rotten-fleshed witches doing spectral laundry while chained in the flooded cellar. They predict great things for Macbeth, and while he obtains rare and valuable jewels and furs demanded by Roscille, he battles to become Thane of Cawdor and, he hopes, King of Scotland. Roscille is a witch, too, and her spooky eyes must be concealed by a veil, lest she drive men mad. Eventually Roscille, quite the schemer although only seventeen, finds an unlikely, fantastical new love and forges an alliance with the witches. Things move along to a bloody conclusion filled with both carnage and triumph.
Those looking for accurate Scottish history or for much connection to Shakespeare’s play should look elsewhere. I couldn’t figure out why the English king Aethelstan was attacking Macbeth, when his reign ended one hundred years before Macbeth’s began. Surely it should have been Harold Harefoot or Harthacanute. And for those who know Macbeth’s wife was not named Roscille, an explanation is given. One nit-pick: doorknobs were not invented until 1878.
Anyway, magic-laced danger is everywhere in this dark story, and virtually every character is someone you would not want to meet in a dark alley. Horror fans will love it, and I highly recommend it to them.
