This entire story is just wrong. Lady Macbeth, in this instance, is not a strong woman urging her husband to grab more power. She wasn't even middle-aged or experienced. Instead, she's a young virgin terrified of pretty much everything, including her own shadow. She is weak and not nearly as intelligent as she thinks she is. Supposedly, this is a feminist version of Shakespeare's character, but I think there was nothing wrong with the original character. She's one of the strongest, most independent female characters in his canon, and Ms. Reid turns the character on its head to make her weaker and less feminist. Plus, there is this weird hatred for all things Scottish threaded throughout the story that makes you wonder what happened to Ms. Reid to deserve the hate. It's been such a long time since I was this disappointed in a book.