BOOK OF THE WEEK

The Green Lady by Sue Lawrence, Contraband, £9.99

Awhirlwind of historic drama and traumatic events is what you can expect from Sue Lawrence’s The Green Lady. Based on true events, this story follows a series of women in 16thcentury Scotland around the powerful and brutal Lord Alexander Seton.

Lawrence shows us the tragic and disempowered lives of Alexander’s wives over the years and how they met their tragic ends.

However, I would argue that Alexander is not the main focus Lawrence is truly intending on here.

While she, without a doubt, steadily reveals the depths of Alexander’s ugly personality, the true importance of her novel comes from the female relationships.

We hear from Alexander’s first wife – and the most important – Lilias (aka the green lady), his other wives Grizel and Margaret, his aunt Marie Seton – who was one of the late Mary, Queen of Scots’ ladies-in-waiting – and more besides.

Lilias and Marie send each other a series of letters which are woven into the narrative to provide an interesting view on not only women’s relationships at the time, but their views on things they would not be allowed to speak on aloud.

For example, Lawrence not only allows Lilias to tell Marie about Alexander’s behaviour towards her, but we see Marie’s growing frustration at her nephew without the boundaries of social constraint – given these were private letters.

Alongside this story, there is also that of Maggie, a student in the 1980s who has gone to Fyvie castle (where the historic story is set) as part of her university studies.

At first, I thought this would provide an interesting contrast between the modern view of the castle and what it was like to live in it during Alexander’s reign.

However, as I got more involved with the story it felt more like an extraneous filler, and even distracted me from the world Lawrence builds.

If it were to be omitted completely, I don’t think it would make a difference to the plot at all, and I think it would make the novel stronger for it.

Yet, putting this aspect aside, the story of these women is striking and the book is beautifully written.

Lawrence’s historical fiction unapologetically portrays these real historical figures in a new light – offering insight into lives we may have never

otherwise felt we got to know.