Book Review: Lady Macbeth by Susan Fraser King

I LOVED this book. However much I love Shakespeare--and I DO LOVE SHAKESPEARE--the man was writing for the good graces and on the good will of the Tudors and the Stuarts. To do that, he often had to write Tudor-supporting propaganda (which is why Richard III is evil in his book, when actually he was quite an amicable man). Susan Fraser King wrote a novel more in line with historical fact. Her characters are flawed, they are human, but they have hearts and are pushed and prodded by circumstance more than by ambition. In this realm, Macbeth and his wife are loved by their people and their country; he actually holds the knife when he would have done them all more good by "plunging it in!" He is not the pitiable murderer we have all come to know and does not live under/behind his lady-wife's skirts; he is actually a king who has his country's best interests at heart. The writing is magnificent as well. King pulls you in with her first line and keeps you hooked until the last. I felt an aching loss when I finished this book. Like the play however, Macbeth dies at the end, so there won't be a sequel, unless Lady Macbeth's fate ties in with that of some other clan. It may, but I doubt she'll be the central character again.