This entry in the Darkland Tales series of fictional retellings of Scottish history finds Val McDermid interpret the story of Lady Macbeth. This is a signed edition.

A thousand years ago in an ancient Scottish landscape, a woman is on the run with her three companions – a healer, a weaver and a seer. If the men hunting her find them, they will kill her because she is the only one who stands between them and their violent ambition. She is the first queen of Scotland, married to a king called Macbeth.

Shakespeare portrayed the Macbeths as power-hungry murderous conspirators. As the net closes in on the queen, a tale of passion, forced marriage, bloody massacre and the harsh realities of medieval Scotland is revealed. At the heart of it, one woman survived loss and jeopardy to outwit the plotting of a string of ruthless and ambitious men. Her struggle won her a country, but now it could cost her life.