Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland [Kindle Edition]

What struck me the most when I read Susan Fraser King's first novel, Lady MacBeth , was the way she was able to suck me in within the first page. Well, I can happily say that the same thing happened with her newest release, Queen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland.

Margaret, the daughter of an exiled prince and granddaughter to Edmund Ironside, was raised in the strictly religious Hungarian court. Her father is called back to England, but dies shortly after and following a series of events she and her family leave England and travel to the court of King Malcolm III of Scotland for protection. However safety comes with a price that only she can pay with her hand in marriage. As dutiful as Margaret is, she is less than thrilled at marrying this rough, brutish man who ignores and disgusts her but resolves herself to the inevitable and vows to be the best queen possible. It's hard to think that with the rocky start to their relationship and given that they seem to be total opposites, Margaret and Malcolm have one of the most successful (with all of their eight children living to adulthood)and happy marriages in royal couple history. And though the people of Scotland did not want a Saxon queen, they come to love her for her charity and kindnesses. After reading about the innate goodness in Margaret, it comes as no surprise to me that she is now known as a Saint.

In Queen Hereafter we also reunite with Lady MacBeth and meet her granddaughter, daughter of the murdered King Lulach, Eva. Eva, an accomplished bard, knowing her destiny lay elsewhere, she leaves the court of her grandmother and answers Malcolm's summons that she come to his court as a royal hostage to keep Lady MacBeth in check and behaving. As Malcolm is Lady MacBeth's enemy she is loath to send her beloved granddaughter to the lion's den, but word has come to her that Malcolm has commission a historical account which would not paint MacBeth and Lulach in very glowing terms and Eva could be in a position to secretly find out more about the document. But when Eva and Margaret grow close she begins to feel bad about betraying her new friend and when she gets caught its Margaret who will seal her fate.

Wonderfully written and hard to put down Queen Hereafter is a fantastic read that I highly recommend to any lover of historical fiction!

Queen Hereafter (A Novel of Margaret of Scotland) is Susan Fraser King's second historical fiction novel, following on the heels of her Lady MacBeth in 2008. Although there are some references to events that occurred in Lady MacBeth, Queen Hereafter is a stand-alone work of historical fiction.

Queen Hereafter commences in 1046 and covers from that date to approximately 1074. There are two point-of-views used interchangeably in the novel: Margaret of Scotland and Eva the Bard.

Exiled as a small child to Hungary, Margaret's father, is summoned to England by his uncle King Edward. Margaret's family, including her father, mother, sister and brother, travel to London only to encounter tragedy and danger when her father, Edward the Exile, suddenly drops dead within a week. Margaret's brother, Edgar, at 5 years-old, is named as king's heir. When King Edward dies, Edgar does not gain the crown. Harold Godwinson seizes the throne, but dies on the battleground against William the Conqueror.

Margaret's family separates and flee, Margaret and her sister, Cristina, to the Romsey Abby, their mother to Wilton Abbey and Edgar as William's hostage in Normandy. It is a life that Margaret seeks, one of devotion and service to God. Her desire is thwarted 3 years later when she and her sister are spirited off to be reunited with their family and sail to Scotland to request aid of the Scottish King, Malcolm Canmore. Their ship founders in the sea upon the Coast of Scotland where the people are loyal to Malcolm. Further north, the Highlanders demonstrate no such loyalty.

King Malcolm is a widower. For many months, Margaret dreads she will become his wife to seal his partnership with her brother, Edgar, to repel the hated Normans from England and Scotland and crown Edgar as King of England. Margaret is extremely pious and wishes to serve only God; not to be wife to a uncultured warrior-king. Her fears becomes reality and she weds Malcolm.

Eva the Bard (a fictional character) is granddaughter of Lady Gruadh of the Highlands and daughter of King Lulach, who was killed by Malcolm's orders. Now Malcolm demands Eva's presence at his Court to entertain his guests, a slim disguise for his true intent - to hold Eva hostage as guarantee of Lady Gruadh's good behavior. Malcolm is well aware he has enemies in the north and Lady Gruadh is influential. Lady Gruadh eventually consents to Eva travelling to Malcom's Court, but charges Eva with a mission; Eva must ferret out useful information about Malcolm's activities and report back to her grandmother.

Queen Hereafter is a story of 2 women, who have to make the best of what life has handed them. For Margaret, it's marriage to an uncouth bear of a man and, for Eva, it's banishment from her beloved highlands to the court of the man who killed her father.

Margaret's goals are to reform the Celtic church of Scotland to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, institute almsgiving, found monasteries, tame her brutish husband into a cultured man (she eventually finds contentment with her marriage and bears 8 children) and spend infinite hours on her knees praying in the hopes of a expiating a sin from her childhood. She practices asceticism to the extreme.

Eva's ambition is to return home to Northern Scotland, the sooner the better. As she becomes more intimate with Margaret, she finds herself in a loyalty dilemma. She attempts to resolve this problem with unfortunate results.

I enjoyed Eva's point-of-view best as she seemed more flesh and bones than Margaret. Margaret's portrayal of extreme piety began to feel somewhat tired and her character a bit cardboard-like. Margaret did not come across as the imperfect human being we all are, except for her own self-imposed conception of her sins. Not being a saint myself, I'm not sure exactly of a saint's thought process, but I do know many sinners became saints. There was nothing in Margaret's character that helped me make a connection with her. I was disappointed as I'd hoped to gain more insight into Margaret.

Overall, I found this a good read but, as mentioned above, had difficulties envisioning Margaret as a "real" person.

Scotland, 1067, Margaret , her mother and sister are taken ,by ship, to Scotland on the orders of her brother Edgar. This Saxon family are in need of shelter and protection after the death of their father, King Edward.

They are given sanctuary by King Malcolm, III, a fierce man who seeks a wife. This is not a match that Margaret desires, but fears this will be her destiny as a dutiful sister to Edgar.

Margaret finds herself falling for Malcolm and Scotland after the initial realisation that these people live and behave differently .

I was really looking forward to reading this tale about Margaret of Scotland, even though this is a period I know little about. I struggled a little with the connections of all the characters, and could not have done without the Genealogy map at the start of the novel.
Susan Fraser King has written a beautiful novel, fitting to the time period, that captures the wild landscape of The Highlands, in a turbulent time religiously and socially for the Scots, Normans and Saxons .

A lovely read once I found my way around the 11th Century and genealogy.

review copy