Nigel Tranter 
High Kings And Vikings 

As Christendom approached the first Millennium, conflict and war prevailed throughout a troubled Scotland. The population remained under constant threat from bloodthirsty Viking raids, and the High Kings of Scots came and went, their brief reigns usually coming to a violent end. In 995, young Cormac mac Farquhar, newly succeeding his father as Thane of Glamis, was to find himself reluctantly caught up in the misfortunes of the ruling monarch, Kenneth the Second, and the ensuing national chaos. But little did Cormac know that out of his legacy of hatred, he would find unexpected happiness.