Lady Macbeth

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

Fair is foul and foul is fair.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of A STUDY IN DROWNING comes a reimagining of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s most famous villainess, giving her a voice, a past, and a power that transforms the story men have written for her.

The Lady knows the stories: that her eyes induce madness in men.

The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed.

The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of survival, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive.

But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armour. She does not know that her magic is greater, and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world.

She does not know this yet. But she will.

©2024 Ava Reid (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

Reid takes one of Shakespeare’s most interesting antiheroes and endows her with vulnerability, power and depth: a protagonist who’s neither flower nor serpent, but something both more magical and more human. This is a darkly gorgeous feast of a book, rich with irony and invention. I was spellbound from the very first page.

Freya Marske, bestselling author of The Last Binding trilogy

Lady Macbeth is a dark, elegant, heart-stirring novel, beautifully written, rich with the history of language and of medieval Scotland. This tale of a tortured, appealing, resourceful woman carves its own life from the Scottish play in a unique and powerful way. I loved every page.

Louisa Morgan, author of The Ghosts of Beatrice Bird

Queen! Ava Reid has done it again in this gothic, atmospheric reclamation of the story of Lady Macbeth. Scotland’s cold will seep into your bones, but the kernel of hope that burns in all Reid’s stories will keep you warm as you watch the scheming, vulnerable Lady Roscille fight for her autonomy in a world that would define her in relation to men alone.

Vaishnavi Patel, New York Times bestselling author of Kaikeyi

Lady Macbeth is a bewitching read with prose like gold.

Tasha Suri, World Fantasy award-winning author of The Jasmine Throne

Lady Macbeth is a knife of a book: blood-stained, sharply beautiful, and necessary. It doesn’t retell Shakespeare so much as slice cleanly through it, revealing what was hidden beneath. I couldn’t look away.

Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of Starling House

As fierce and unrelenting as the Scottish wind, Reid paints a tender, wholly original portrait of one of Shakespeare’s most infamous characters. Fans of Circe will devour this story of a woman’s survival in a world that seeks to make her small. There’s one thing about Ava Reid; she doesn’t miss.

Sasha Peyton Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Witch Haven

Reid’s exquisite marrying of story, theme, and aesthetic remains unparalleled. Lady Macbeth is a novel etched with a scalpel touch, flawlessly delivering the darkest depths of human relationships as well as the emotional brilliance of catharsis. A triumph of a retelling.

Shelley Parker-Chan, bestselling author of She Who Became the Sun

Lady Macbeth swept me away to a gothic Scotland, with danger, magic, and heartache at every turn of the page. Ava Reid’s lyrical prose bled in every scene, haunting, sorrowful, and deeply romantic. Thrilling and poignant, this story is not to be missed.

Isabel Ibañez, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of What the River Knows

Ava Reid has composed a masterpiece of atmosphere and suspense. Lady Macbeth is a love letter to women whose magic and power will not stay silent. Reid’s prose, as shimmeringly poetic as always, carries a story that will curl around your heart linger in your bones.

Victoria Lee, bestselling author of A Lesson in Vengeance

Deftly told and richly imagined, Lady Macbeth is a gothic fever dream with sharpened teeth.

Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of The Foxglove King

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