Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A prequel to Shakespeare’s Macbeth told in modern prose. An 11th-century widow and her 10-year-old son are called “the Lady” and “the boy,” as if their names don’t matter. Indeed, her life is shaped wholly by men. The thane Macbeth has murdered her husband—burned him alive—and now moves into the woman’s castle. Not only does she not mind, but they fall in love and marry. Do the castle gossips call it an unholy union? As well they might, and the boy resents both his mother and Macbeth. She tells her son that together they can teach Macbeth how to be a father and a husband. “It is harsh, this world,” the mother says. “It is so hard to find love in it….We are fortunate if we find the smallest drop.” Drops of love are scant in this tale, while drops of blood are much easier to find. Morris doesn’t handle the plot quite as Shakespeare did, with witches and a murder scheme. This is less the story of Macbeth than it is the story of the missus. She is spooked by apparitions and a mysterious voice that says, “You shall be queen hereafter.” It’s hard for her to imagine how, as Duncan is king. But then her trusted “coz” Macduff reminds her that Macbeth is second in line. If you’ve read the play, you already know where we’re headed, but don’t let that stop you from reading this beautiful interpretation, which is so rich in its descriptions and well-crafted characters. Yes, night is a frightening time to be in the woods, but “ghosts melt away at the whiff of dawn.” There are mormaers and crones, thanes and witches, ambition and vengeance. And did we mention blood? Oh yes. Even the minor characters are fun, like the boy’s tutor Broccin, who despises children: They should all be sent to monasteries, “where the years might drain them of their insouciance like leeches applied to the body.” A most enjoyable setup for the Scottish play, but be sure to read the original, too. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Those who know their Shakespeare will have no difficulty gleaning the plot from this novel’s title: it’s a reimaging of Macbeth, or, rather, the events leading up to the play’s beginnings. Lady Macbeth (known simply as “the Lady”) narrates, alternating with third-person chapters from her son’s (“the boy”) perspective. When the Lady’s first husband, the Mormaer of Moray, is murdered by Macbeth in revenge for the Mormaer’s murder of Macbeth’s father, the Lady is well quit of a brutal partner. In Macbeth, she finds “a sea of love . . . we are only standing on its shore.” All characters are drawn with inventiveness and depth. What brings the Lady to her later encouragement of fell deeds is a backstory that is entirely illuminating of her motivations. When she notes her flaws, a sympathetic Macbeth queries: “Are they flaws if I love them?” He values her strength, explaining to the boy: “She’s undaunted by things that would make most women tremble.” This is a beautifully realized tale of a daughter, mother, and wife ultimately at the mercy of Fate’s unknowable interventions.

Publishers Weekly
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Morris debuts with an intriguing tale of Lady Macbeth during the years before events depicted in Shakespeare’s play. Known only as “the Lady,” she meets a “bewitched woman” as a young girl in the early 11th century, who prophesies: “You shall be queen.” At 15, she marries the brutal Mormaer of Moray, who murdered his uncle to secure his title. They have a son, unnamed in the narrative, whom the mormaer viciously mocks for shedding tears. Later, the Lady teaches the boy how to hold a dagger, hoping to protect him from his sadistic father. After Macbeth kills the mormaer by setting a fire, the Lady marries Macbeth with full knowledge of his deed. Her son hears gossip about the mormaer’s death, and he becomes increasingly suspicious his father was murdered. Crisp, no-nonsense prose conveys the narrative’s gathering darkness (“Time without light has no season. It is no time at all,” thinks the Lady), and Morris intelligently explores the era’s gender dynamics (“What the husbands consider close-kept secrets are open knowledge to the wives”). It’s an entertaining prequel to Shakespeare’s complex and haunting tragedy. (Mar.)