Queen Hereafter

Here was a new book I picked up after seeing it on a list for best historical fiction of 2010.  When I read the summary, I was excited because it was exactly what I like about this type of genre.  This particular publication was based on historical fact, Scotland royalty in the late 1070's, following Macbeth's ruling.

I remember the basis of the Shakespeare play, Macbeth, so I was intrigued.  The main character, Margaret, is an actual Saxon princess, who's brother and family were banished from England by King William, because her father, the King, was dethroned.  She and her family end up as guests of Scottish King Malcom, who is trying to keep his country safe from the invading English.  Malcom sees it as a benefit to his kingdom to marry Margaret, joining the two families into a powerful ruling dynasty.  Their descendants are all royalty, one of the more famous being Mary Queen of Scots.

I realized that after some discussion at supper last night, not many of my family know of my fascination with royalty.  I am not talking about Princess Diana and all of the current news (but I do follow it with some interest) but I have always read about historical royalty. The only movie out right now that I really would like to see is the King's Speech, because his story is quite fascinating, even though his daughter, Queen Elizabeth can be considered quite boring. 

This book took a part of historical royalty that I had never read about before and made it quite interesting.  It also took another fact that fascinates me, the role the Catholic church took in many of these family powers, which I learned about in Ken Follet's pair of historical fiction "Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End".  I love when I get to experience the life of an actual figure of history.