Super Short Summary

The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble intertwines the lives of an eighteenth-century Korean Crown Princess, Lady Hyegyong, and a forty-something British academic, Dr. Babs Halliwell. As Babs reads Lady Hyegyong's ghostwritten memoir on a flight to Seoul, she is captivated by the princess’s tumultuous life, marked by marriage to the mentally ill Prince Sado. Babs, facing her own mid-life crisis and personal parallels to the princess's experiences, explores historical Seoul while haunted by the princess’s ghost. The story delves into themes of transcultural human characteristics, court intrigues, and personal traumas. This novel includes sensitive topics such as mental illness, violent behavior, and the death of a child.