All Our Yesterdays

Morris debuts with an intriguing tale of Lady Macbeth during the years before events depicted in Shakespeare’s play. Known only as “the Lady,” she meets a “bewitched woman” as a young girl in the early 11th century, who prophesies: “You shall be queen.” At 15, she marries the brutal Mormaer of Moray, who murdered his uncle to secure his title. They have a son, unnamed in the narrative, whom the mormaer viciously mocks for shedding tears. Later, the Lady teaches the boy how to hold a dagger, hoping to protect him from his sadistic father. After Macbeth kills the mormaer by setting a fire, the Lady marries Macbeth with full knowledge of his deed. Her son hears gossip about the mormaer’s death, and he becomes increasingly suspicious his father was murdered. Crisp, no-nonsense prose conveys the narrative’s gathering darkness (“Time without light has no season. It is no time at all,” thinks the Lady), and Morris intelligently explores the era’s gender dynamics (“What the husbands consider close-kept secrets are open knowledge to the wives”). It’s an entertaining prequel to Shakespeare’s complex and haunting tragedy. (Mar.)