Lady Macbeth » (Unabridged, 11 CDs, 13 hours)

SUSAN FRASER KING lives in Maryland with her husband, sons, and a Westie.

"I am a granddaughter to a king and daughter to a prince, a wife twice over, a queen as well. I have fought with sword and bow, and struggled fierce to bear my babes into this world. I have loved deeply and hated deeply, too. I know embroidery and hawks and kingship, and more magic than I should admit."

Lady Gruadh, called Rue, is the last female descendant of Scotland's most royal line. Married to a powerful northern lord, she is widowed while still carrying his child and forced to marry her husband's murderer: a rising warlord named Macbeth. Encountering danger from Vikings, Saxons, and treacherous Scottish lords, Rue begins to respect the man she once despised---and then realizes that Macbeth's complex ambitions extend beyond the borders of the vast northern region. Among the powerful warlords and their steel-games, only Macbeth can unite Scotland---and his wife's royal blood is the key to his ultimate success.

Determined to protect her small son and a proud...

Publishers Weekly

Historical romance novelist King leaps into deeper historical waters with this captivating take on Lady Macbeth, who tells her side of the story with a forceful, uncompromising daring. Gruadh, the future Lady Macbeth and the daughter of 11th-century Scottish prince Bodhe, survives several kidnappings in her girlhood and, determined to uphold the traditions of fierce Celtic women warriors, learns how to fight. "Rue" meets Macbeth, whose royal blood is nearly as pure as hers, but her father marries her off to the warrior Gillecomgan, of whom she grows fond. Macbeth kills him during Rue's pregnancy and immediately marries her, as is his right as victor-and there soon prove to be many more compelling reasons for the match. As King Malcolm's tyranny causes unrest, the Macbeths embark on a bloody campaign to win over their countrymen. Based on historical evidence and recent theories of the era, this is an epic tale written in high-voltage prose. King's novel will thrill lovers of Shakespeare adaptations and delight anyone who wants to enjoy a ripping tale of love and ambition. (Feb.)