A thousand years ago in an ancient Scottish landscape, a woman is on the run with her three bosom 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 no lady: she is the first queen of Scotland, married to a king called Macbeth.

Shakespeare fed us the myth of the Macbeths as power-hungry murderous conspirators. But now Val McDermid drags the truth out of the shadows, exposing the patriarchal prejudices of history.

As the net closes in on the queen, we discover a tale of passion, forced marriage, bloody massacre and the harsh realities of medieval Scotland. At the heart of it, one strong charismatic woman who survived loss and jeopardy to finally outwit the endless plotting of a string of ruthless and ambitious men. Her struggle won her a country. But now it could cost her life.