I knew of Margaret of Scotland mostly as a medieval Scottish queen who became a saint and who was the mother of Matilda of Scotland, who married King Henry I of England and was mother of the Empress Matilda. I had not realized that the Scottish king she married was the Malcolm who defeated Macbeth, or that Margaret herself was connected to the Anglo-Saxon royal family and had to flee England after William the Conqueror's invasion. This novel focuses on the early years of Margaret's marriage to Malcolm and her saintly behavior can feel a bit tiresome at times, which made me like the fiction character of Eva much more. As the illegitimate daughter of Macbeth's heir, Eva is a hostage at the Scottish royal court, brings her own complicated loyalties to the story, and provides a much-needed perspective to this tale. Overall, a very readable book about a queen and an era that deserves more exploration through fiction. ( )

It was alright, I would have liked more of a focus on Margaret and less on Eva. It still showed a lot of who she was and the changes she made. ( )

2.5 stars. ( )

I won this book in a blog giveaway by Musings of a Book Junkie. I was not required to give a review in exchange.

Queen Hereafter is about the saint queen Margaret, who is required to marry King Malcolm although she desires only to become a nun. Her historical figure is intertwined with a fictional character, Eva, who is a female bard who comes to court and hides a secret.

I'll admit, this book greatly frustrated me. There are lyrical moments where I would get swept away with the rich descriptions and intricacies of court life. There is something magnetic about the figure of Margaret, and I was fascinated by her and her relationship with Malcolm. Margaret is such a flawed but saintly creature, and battles with anorexia and guilt. I thought previously that this disease was a recent invention by our developed world society, but I learned differently.

This book has the underpinnings of a great novel, but then makes such odd missteps. First and foremost is the beginning. It is a whirlwind of changes from first person to third person and then perspectives from Margaret and Eva, many times without warning. I almost put down the book at that point, but Margaret's character grabbed my attention, so I stayed with it. Second, Eva seems like such an unnecessary character. I do not see what she adds to the novel. Her character and her side plot are uninteresting, and I found myself speeding through her thankfully shorter chapters to get back to Margaret. *SPOILER ALERT* A third issue is the decision to make Tor a spiritual love interest. As we get to the author's note, we find that apparently Margaret and Malcolm's great love story is paramount in the history books. I thought to myself, why make the decision to sully that relationship unnecessarily. Their relationship was one of the most interesting things about the book and focusing on the surprising love between two royalty that were initially matched for politics and not love, is very fascinating in its own right. Fourth, I felt that it was too simplistic for Margaret to become so religious because she blames herself for her father's death. She's a grown woman and should realize it was not her fault (at least in part). I feel like this is another fictional decision, but the fact that she feels the need to be the perfect queen is reason enough (and makes infinitely more sense) for her anorexia. Fifth, I agree that the author's note is more fascinating in a lot of ways than the book itself. I was interested to see that Cristina, Margaret's sister, has a lot more potential to be her own character (and who knows, may spawn her own book), but we only see minute glimpses of this.

I am torn because there are certain places in the book that I was sucked in and greatly enjoyed it, but the aforementioned issues shadowed my pleasure in reading this book. ( )

This one was one I didn't put down...read it in 3 days. Inspiring and full of details about daily life. A true woman's perspective. ( )