Just So Stories

Scribe Publications

March 2026

ISBN: 9781761381430

RRP: AUD$29.99

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Macbeth would come pretty close to being my favourite of the Bard’s works [possibly because I played one of the witches in a school play – typecasting?], certainly its very creepiness is totally beguiling. And, of course, it is arguably one of the best-known right up there with Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet. It also has that reputation of associated dangers e.g. not uttering its name backstage. But this takes the whole deliciously eerie and supernatural vibe to an entirely new level.

It is seriously compelling reading. A small feral child raised by wolves is ‘rescued’ by a trio of witches, who raise her as a human – a species that is very foreign to both child and hags. Their combined knowledge and skills provide Wulva with what she will need to fulfil their own ends – a destiny that remains completely unknown to the girl until the realisation comes too late.

The three sisters: Cailleach, Merrow and Berthe each have different skills and abilities and, because of these, different roles to play in Wulva’s upbringing and ‘education’. Cailleach takes the lead in teaching the girl the ways of the mormaers (humans) via old books and documents they have held close for years, for just this purpose.

And when the time is ripe, Wulva is taken to a place close to the castle keep of a noble family, the MacDuffs who take her in, and subsequently she falls under the gaze of Macbeth, who makes her his wife.

Where this gets far more complex and even more intriguing than this is the parallel narrative with a humble and world-innocent monk, a scribe named Rowan, who has been commanded by his not very nice superior to go on a long expedition to research the ‘history’ of the Scottish kings. Accompanied by a late-convert Kenneth, ex-soldier, zealot and pious to the point of arrogance, this pair face terrible deprivations along the way to their destination – the very seat of Macbeth’s downfall and the evilness that accompanied this. And let’s just say Kenneth’s piety does not serve him well. An old woman encountered on this journey, relates an ancient tale, which certainly fills some gaps in Rowan’s take on the whole history.

This is really full-on creepy and one can’t help feeling for Wulva who is caught in a web not of her own making. She loses the most of all really.

The split narrative, 300 years apart, will have any mature reader fully engaged and even some of your senior students may well appreciate it. It’s macabre and riveting, full of tension and drama and, I guarantee from first page to last, you will be turning pages quickly in your need to know what happens next. It’s easily a 5 🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺rating.