Last Highland King is an epic tale of contested power, shifting loyalties, and enduring faith, anchored by Gruach—a woman scarred by torture and hardened by loss—who finds both refuge and uneasy trust in Macbeth, the warrior who saves her life in a single decisive act and, in doing so, claims his birthright. Macbeth backs his foster-brother Duncan’s ascent to the throne, but old tensions and buried ambitions erupt into open conflict, propelling Macbeth toward rule over all Alba. What begins as necessity gradually deepens into a fierce, complicated bond between Gruach and Macbeth: she, a healer connected to ancient female powers; he, a Christian ruler haunted by the violence required to secure his crown. As shifting alliances and political prophecy upend their world, they attempt to build both a family and a nation in the midst of turmoil. Enemies gather within and beyond their walls, and long-hidden truths rise to the surface. Last Highland King is an intimate historical reimagining of love and power in a dangerous age—an exploration of two people who choose one another, and whose union shapes the place we call Scotland.

Praise for Last Highland King

“Last Highland King is, like Upon the Corner of the Moon, a stunning achievement…the struggle, public and private, between pagan and Christian, is so meaningfully dramatized in the relationship between king and queen. I loved Macbeth and Gruach as flawed but honest, honorable, thoroughly human beings.”

—Ed Davis, author of The Psalms of Israel Jones

“For lovers of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, you’ll be delighted with Valerie Nieman’s second book in her Scottish series, Last Highland King. But unlike the mythology that forms the basis of the Bard’s work, Nieman’s powerful and beautifully crafted novel is carefully and abundantly researched; rather than giving us a Macbeth and his wife as villains, they are, in Nieman’s capable hands, made fully human. Both Macbeth and his wife Gruach are complex, compelling characters; from the battlefield to the bedroom, they are interesting, dynamic, and sympathetic. The author has transformed Shakespeare’s characters into ones that the modern reader can appreciate. We expect action from a narrative that centers on the making of a nation and we get it in spades. But at the same time, the author writes with a poetic intensity that I’m sure Shakespeare himself would have appreciated. For instance, the sheer loveliness of such a line as, ‘The darkness receded with its memories, and the simple light of the world gained strength.’ Reimagining Shakespeare is an audacious act, but one that Nieman more than ably pulls off.”

—Michael White, author of Soul Catcher and A Brother’s Blood

“Valerie Nieman’s Last Highland King continues the epic saga of Macbeth and Gruach, Lady Macbeth, begun in Upon the Corner of the Moon. Now wed and fiercely devoted to one another, they navigate the violent, shifting political landscape of mid-eleventh century Scotland as Macbeth becomes the high king of a tenuously united Alba. Macbeth is a committed Christian believer, but Gruach worships the White Lady, goddess of the fading religion of her people, whose power and prophecy are still all too relevant in their world. With extraordinary command of the subject and beautiful prose, Nieman masterfully captures the ambiance of the period and draws the reader into this medieval tale of duty, fidelity, love, and inevitable warfare.”

—Susan Coventry, author of Till Taught by Pain

“Last Highland King gives a wonderful recreation of the history of a lost age. The characters bring alive the tensions and romance of a time usually dismissed as barbarous. As fiction makes the past come alive, the reader begins to understand why this era has fascinated scholars and poets for a thousand years.”

—Dr. Benjamin Hudson, author of Macbeth Before Shakespeare

“There is an unusual stark beauty in this love story between the eleventh-century Scottish king Macbeth and his devoted, brilliant and mystical wife Gruach. In the rugged country of fortresses, great lochs, and wild terrain where rival kings go to war for control of the land and pagan deities lurk in the woodlands, their love shines bright. But is it enough to overcome the brutality and betrayal that surround them? As decades pass, will they still have the strength to triumph? You will not want to leave the world of these extraordinary people, the monkish king and his beloved half-pagan wife. Mystical, compelling, and full of conflict, for anyone who loves the medieval world.”

—Stephanie Cowell, author of The Man in the Stone Cottage, The Boy in the Rain, recipient of an American Book Award