A Charmed Life: Growing up in Macbeth's Castle by Liza Campbell

Campbell, Liz. A Charmed Life: Growing up in Macbeth's Castle. Thomas Dunne Books, 2007.

When Liza Campbell receives the news of her father's death, she uses the time to reflect upon his powerful and often negative influence on her life. The last child to be born at Cawdor Castle, of Macbeth fame, Campbell is presently a journalist and artist. Her father Hugh, the twenty-fifth Thane of Cawdor, was an enigmatic man whose own low self-image and feelings of inadequacy caused him to spiral into alcoholism, drug abuse and adulterous affairs. Through it all he remained the driving force in his three children's' lives shaping and influencing them in various ways. This memoir acts as Campbell's way of exorcising some of those demons.

I enjoyed this book so much, we read it for my book club. Campbell is a remarkably deft writer who gives insights into what appears like a fairy tale from the outside, but what at times was a nightmare. Of course, life is never this simple, so she explores the complexities of her dysfunctional family and the pressures that formed them. A very personal and condensed version of Scottish history adds another rich layer.

Recommendations:
The Silent Duchess by Dacia Maraini

Readers who want to explore the damaging effects of a traumatic childhood might like this selection which is the story of a young woman struck deaf and mute by a childhood incident.

Macbeth The Graphic Novel: Original Text by Wiiliam Shakepeare

If Cawdor Castle has piqued your interest in the classic tale, experience it in a whole new way while remaining faithful to the mother tongue.

Haunted Castles of the World: Ghostly Legends and Phenomena from Keeps and Fortresses Around the Globe by Charles A. Coulombe

Readers interested in other historic castles will enjoy this excellent volume with a haunted twist.

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

Walls shares many of the same family characteristics as Campbell: an alcoholic father, eccentric mother and unsteady childhood. Fans of memoirs will find Walls a compelling storyteller.