Lee Allen's Blog - Posts Tagged "romance"

Queen Macbeth by Val McDermid

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A thrilling tale of love and loss, power and destitution.

In the unforgiving wilderness of medieval Scotland, Queen Macbeth is on the run for her life.

King Macbeth is dead, and she desperately mourns his loss, while fearing for her son whom she has been separated from.

This is the tale of the tragedy behind the tragedy, a story of love discovered and lost, and a desperate quest for survival.

‘Queen Macbeth’ is an historical fiction novella by Val McDermid, retelling the history behind Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Macbeth’ from the perspective of the queen, in a far more sympathetic portrait than the Machiavellian villainess Lady Macbeth of the play. McDermid delves into Shakespeare’s historical inspiration in search of the true story behind the myth – not of a man spurned to violence and tyranny by his fatal flaws of greed and ambition, encouraged by his equally megalomanic and bloodthirsty wife, but of Macbethad, an early king of Scotland (in its contemporary political geography of several kingdoms), and his beloved wife Gruoch, whom he recues from an abusive, loveless marriage.

The tale is narrated from Gruoch’s perspective, who is now in hiding, being pursued for her life and her son’s throne following the death of her second husband. Through flashbacks, we discover their beautiful love story, their intense emotion and attraction blooming from an instant connection. But their love is forbidden – Gruoch is married to the cruel and murderous Gille Coemgáin. Yet the love between Gruoch and Macbeth is powerful and nothing can come between them and their destiny to be together, these flashbacks the shining heart of the novella; along with Gruoch’s relationship with her three companions, their characterisation another piece of historical realism analogous to the three witches of Shakespeare’s tragedy.

The narrative moves seamlessly between the dual timelines, as, in the present, Gruoch’s pursuers catch up with her and her allies, and they must flee the grounds of the monastery where they have been granted safe haven to seek new sanctuary, facing more bloodshed and deeper tragedy. The novella subtly questions perception – consider the misogyny of a patriarchal society; how the victors of war record the history of conflict – while toying with allusions to the original play and crafting a legend around a history about which little is known fact.

A beautifully written story, ‘Queen Macbeth’ takes us on a tragic and emotional journey along with endearing characters; a moving companion to the Scottish Play, shedding light on its darkness and reminding us there is often another perspective to every story.



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The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A searing, captivating time travel romance.

As a child, Clare Abshire meets the man who will be her future husband.

Yet, it will be many years before Henry DeTamble meets Clare, while she commits to spending a lifetime waiting for this moment to arrive.

For Clare’s husband is a traveller in time, their romance a complex web of interconnected past and future moments, the present all too temporary and fleeting.

‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ is the debut novel by Audrey Niffenegger, a science-fiction romance that takes us back and forth through time to reveal the complex tapestry of Clare and Henry’s entwined lives, told from the dual perspectives of both characters at different points of their lives. Intricately woven and beautifully written, its non-linear narrative is both captivating and thrilling, the romance immersive and emotional, beautiful and tragic. Henry meets Clare for the first time at his place of work, twenty-eight and twenty years old respectively, having no idea who she is, despite her having known him since she was six, when she meets him for the first time at thirty-six in what will become their special place for many years to come. We also meet Henry at five years old, who meets his future self at twenty-four the first time he time travels, going on to be his own mentor to survive in his uniquely dangerous situation.

Niffenegger weaves a deeply moving and thought-provoking tale, an exhilarating dance through time, a journey through destiny, the tale of two people’s entwined lives, delving deep into the emotional impact of such a relationship on the two central characters, excavating the depth of their emotion and their shared memories - how thrilling and incredible, but also how difficult and heartbreaking. Henry has no control over his travelling, neither when it happens nor when and where he will turn up. Nevertheless, his travelling is often concentric to significant events and people – he continues to revisit his mother’s death, his own childhood, times throughout Clare’s life and the life they share together. He often struggles to keep track of his own timeline, many aspects of his life only becoming clear as he goes on to experience them in real time. All the while, his condition ages him, the danger it presents threatening to one day be impossible to outrun.

I adored this book. For me, the concept of time travel proves to be one of the most romantic (second only to twin flames and soul mates) – this notion that two people are destined to be together, their entire lives entwined to the point where cause and effect blur and their love endures for as long as they live, entirely timeless and unbound by the limitations of a linear lifespan. Throughout, we explore many philosophical questions through the lens of a beautiful love story – touching on themes of free will and consent, fate and determinism, faith and spirituality, physics, evolution and genetics; all wrapped in a deeply human narrative of two people finding each other in the most bizarre of circumstances, never giving up on each other, despite all the challenges - their futile wish for life to simply be normal, their desire to have a child, their hope that a cure can be found for Henry’s condition, the dreams they share for a future that may just be unattainable.

The inevitability of what is to come becomes apparent very early on – what begins must end, and in the case of time travel, it is something perhaps evermore both present and distant – and when we finally see just how it will end, it is heartbreaking. On this tapestry of the impossible, as with all the best works of fiction, we experience something that remains very true to our own lives. We will all, one way or another, lose the people we love. It is inevitable, yet we live every day ignoring it. Yet loss and separation can teach us to truly cherish the time we do have, the moments we share that become precious memory, and that, most of all, the most important of those moments is the one we are in now. Also, perhaps, something else, that no one is ever as truly lost to us as we might believe.

The novel has been adapted for the screen twice – first as a film version in 2009, adapted by Bruce Joel Rubin (writer of ‘Ghost’) and directed by Robert Schwentke; and as a TV series in 2018, written by Steven Moffat (whose work includes ‘Doctor Who’, ‘Sherlock’ and ‘Dracula’ (2020)). Niffenegger has also been working on a sequel, with the working title ‘The Other Husband’, with publication anticipated imminently, the novel having been expected to be completed by 2023.

A truly masterful novel, ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ is a timeless tale of love and woe that can be told again and again.



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