Rose Madder (novel)

Last updated
Rose Madder
RoseMadder.jpg
First edition cover
Author Stephen King
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Horror/Fantasy
Publisher Viking
Publication date
July 10, 1995
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages420
ISBN 978-0-670-85869-9

Rose Madder is a horror/fantasy novel by American writer Stephen King, published in 1995. It deals with the effects of domestic violence (which King had touched upon before in the novels It , Insomnia , Dolores Claiborne , Needful Things , and many others) and, unusually for a King novel, relies for its fantastic element on Greek mythology. In his memoir, On Writing , King states that Rose Madder and Insomnia are "stiff, trying-too-hard novels."

Contents

Plot

In 1985, police officer Norman Daniels brutally beats his wife Rosie while she is four months pregnant, resulting in a miscarriage. Rosie considers leaving Norman, but dismisses the idea because Norman is a cop who specializes in finding missing persons. The short-tempered Norman has recently been accused of raping a black woman named Wendy Yarrow, and the subsequent lawsuit and internal affairs investigation has made him even more volatile.

Nine years later, Rosie notices a drop of blood on the couple's bedsheet and realizes that, if she stays with Norman, he will eventually kill her. Taking his credit card, Rosie departs on a bus to an unfamiliar city in the Midwest, with no clear plan of action. Once there, she meets a good-natured man named Peter Slowik, who guides her to a local women's shelter. She quickly makes new friends, including the owner of the shelter, Anna Stevenson, who helps Rosie find a small apartment and a job as a hotel maid. A few weeks later, Rosie decides to pawn her engagement ring but finds that the ring's "diamond" is fake. In the pawnshop, her attention is drawn to a painting which depicts a woman in a rose madder gown. Fascinated, she trades her ring for the painting.

On the street, Rosie is stopped by a man named Rob Lefferts, a customer at the pawnshop, who asks her to read an excerpt from a book. Rob likes her voice and offers her a job recording audiobooks. Sometime later, Bill Steiner, the pawnshop owner, asks Rosie out on a date. Rosie believes that her life is improving, and gradually notices that the painting is changing and expanding. Eventually she is able to travel through it. On the other side, she is met by Dorcas, who resembles Wendy Yarrow. She also sees the woman in the painting, whom she calls "Rose Madder" because of her dress and her apparent insanity. Rose Madder asks Rosie to rescue her baby from an underground labyrinth guarded by the blind, one-eyed bull Erinyes, who orients by smell. Dorcas leads Rosie to the temple grounds and warns her of the dangers that await. Dorcas cannot enter the labyrinth due to a mysterious illness that she and her mistress are afflicted with. Rosie ventures into the temple alone, and she ponders the reality of her situation. Rosie manages to save the child, whom she names Caroline, and Rose Madder promises “to repay”. Waking up the next morning, Rosie decides that everything that had happened was a dream.

Meanwhile, Norman conducts a search for Rosie, having resolved to kill her. He tracks down the city she is residing in and gradually loses his self-control; he begins killing people who have some connection to Rosie, including Peter and Anna. When Norman catches Rosie returning from a date with Bill, she flees from him into her apartment and lures him into the painting, where Rose Madder kills him. Rose gives Rosie some seeds and makes her promise to "remember the tree". Rosie exits Rose's world and burns the painting. Several years later, Rosie is married to Bill, with whom she has a daughter. However, she experiences outbursts of rage characteristic of Rose Madder. Rosie recalls her promise and plants a seed near a lake, and the tree that grows from it helps restrain Rosie's rage.

Adaptations

In 1996, HBO Pictures acquired the rights to the novel to make a television movie. This would have been the first HBO film based on a Stephen King novel, but the project never came to fruition. [1] A film adaptation of Rose Madder was in development in 2011, but the project fell apart. [2] [3] There was an audiobook made narrated by Blair Brown.

Connections to other King works

Related Research Articles

<i>The Shining</i> (novel) 1977 novel by Stephen King

The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It is King's third published novel and first hardcover bestseller; its success firmly established King as a preeminent author in the horror genre. The setting and characters are influenced by King's personal experiences, including both his visit to The Stanley Hotel in 1974 and his struggle with alcoholism. The novel was adapted into a 1980 film and a 1997 miniseries. The book was followed by a sequel, Doctor Sleep, published in 2013, which in turn was adapted into a film of the same name in 2019.

<i>Hearts in Atlantis</i> 1999 short story collection by Stephen King

Hearts in Atlantis (1999) is a collection of two novellas and three short stories by Stephen King, all connected to one another by recurring characters and taking place in roughly chronological order. The stories are loosely autobiographical; in an author's note, King writes that while the places in the book are fictionalized, "Although it is difficult to believe, the sixties are not fictional; they actually happened."

<i>Geralds Game</i> 1992 suspense novel by Stephen King

Gerald's Game is a 1992 suspense novel by American writer Stephen King. The story is about a woman whose husband dies of a heart attack while she is handcuffed to a bed, and, following the subsequent realization that she is trapped with little hope of rescue, begins to let the voices inside her head take over.

<i>Desperation</i> (novel) 1996 novel by Stephen King

Desperation is a horror novel by American author Stephen King. It was published in 1996 at the same time as its "mirror" novel, The Regulators, itself published under King's Richard Bachman pseudonym. It was also made into a TV film starring Ron Perlman, Tom Skerritt and Steven Weber in 2006. The two novels represent parallel universes relative to one another, and most of the characters present in one novel's world also exist in the other novel's reality, albeit in different circumstances.

<i>Misery</i> (novel) 1987 novel by Stephen King

Misery is an American psychological horror thriller novel written by Stephen King and first published by Viking Press on June 8, 1987. The novel's narrative is based on the relationship of its two main characters – the romance novelist Paul Sheldon and his deranged self-proclaimed number one fan Annie Wilkes. When Paul is seriously injured following a car accident, former nurse Annie brings him to her home, where Paul receives treatment and doses of pain medication. Paul realizes that he is a prisoner and is forced to indulge his captor's whims.

<i>The StoryTeller</i> (TV series) British childrens fantasy (1987)

The StoryTeller is a live-action/puppet television series that originally aired in 1987 and which was created and produced by Jim Henson.

<i>Insomnia</i> (novel) 1994 novel by Stephen King

Insomnia is a 1994 horror/fantasy novel by American writer Stephen King. It follows retired widower Ralph Roberts, whose increasing insomnia allows him to perceive auras and other hidden things, leading him to join a conflict between the forces of the Purpose and the Random. Like It and Dreamcatcher, the story is set in the fictional town of Derry, Maine. It includes connections to other Stephen King stories, particularly his novel series The Dark Tower. Insomnia was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosie the Riveter</span> Cultural icon of the US during World War II

Rosie the Riveter is an allegorical cultural icon in the United States who represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who joined the military. She is widely recognized in the "We Can Do It!" poster as a symbol of American feminism and women's economic advantage. Similar images of women war workers appeared in other countries such as Britain and Australia. The idea of Rosie the Riveter originated in a song written in 1942 by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb. Images of women workers were widespread in the media in formats such as government posters, and commercial advertising was heavily used by the government to encourage women to volunteer for wartime service in factories. Rosie the Riveter became the subject and title of a Hollywood film in 1944.

<i>The Shining</i> (film) 1980 horror film by Stanley Kubrick

The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. It is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name and stars Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, and Scatman Crothers. Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a new position as the off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. Lloyd plays his young son Danny, who has psychic abilities, which he learns about from head chef Dick Hallorann (Crothers). Danny's imaginary friend Tony warns him the hotel is haunted before a winter storm leaves the family snowbound in the Colorado Rockies. Jack's sanity deteriorates under the influence of the hotel and the residents, and Danny and his mother Wendy (Duvall) face mortal danger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annie Wilkes</span> Fictional character in the 1987 novel Misery

Annie Wilkes is a character originating from Stephen King's 1987 novel Misery, in which she acts as one of the two central characters and main antagonist. In 2022, King picked her as his personal favorite character among all those he created in his literary career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Torrance</span> Fictional character in The Shining

John Daniel Edward "Jack" Torrance is the villain protagonist in Stephen King's horror novel The Shining (1977). He was portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the novel's 1980 film adaptation, by Steven Weber in the 1997 miniseries, by Brian Mulligan in the 2016 opera and by Henry Thomas in the 2019 film adaptation of Doctor Sleep. The American Film Institute rated the character the 25th-greatest film villain of all time. In 2008, Jack Torrance was selected by Empire magazine as one of the 100 greatest movie characters. Premiere magazine also ranked Torrance on their list of their 100 greatest movie characters of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose madder</span> Red paint made from the madder plant

Rose madder is a red paint made from the pigment madder lake, a traditional lake pigment extracted from the common madder plant Rubia tinctorum.

<i>Misery</i> (film) 1990 film by Rob Reiner

Misery is a 1990 American psychological thriller film directed by Rob Reiner, based on Stephen King's 1987 novel of the same name, starring James Caan, Kathy Bates, Lauren Bacall, Richard Farnsworth, and Frances Sternhagen. The plot centers around an author who is held captive by an obsessive fan who forces him to rewrite the finale to his novel series.

<i>The Gingerbread Girl</i>

The Gingerbread Girl is a novella by American writer Stephen King, originally published in the July 2007 issue of Esquire. It was later included in King's Just After Sunset collection in 2008. The Gingerbread Girl was also released as an audiobook, read by Mare Winningham, by Simon & Schuster Audio on May 6, 2008. The title is an allusion to the fairy tale "The Gingerbread Boy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Torrance</span> Fictional character in The Shining and Doctor Sleep

Daniel Anthony Torrance, also known as Doc, Danny and later Doctor Sleep, is a fictional character who first appears in the 1977 novel The Shining by Stephen King as a child with psychic powers called "the shining". His parents are father Jack Torrance and mother Wendy Torrance. The character was portrayed in the 1980 film adaptation The Shining by Danny Lloyd and by Courtland Mead in the 1997 television miniseries The Shining.

<i>Doctor Sleep</i> (novel) 2013 horror novel by Stephen King

Doctor Sleep is a 2013 horror novel by American writer Stephen King and the sequel to his 1977 novel The Shining. The book reached the first position on The New York Times Best Seller list for print and ebook fiction (combined), hardcover fiction, and ebook fiction. Doctor Sleep won the 2013 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel.

<i>The Midnight Line</i> 2017 novel by Lee Child

The Midnight Line is a novel by British writer Lee Child. This is the twenty-second book in the Jack Reacher series. The book was released on 7 November 2017. The plot finds Reacher once again in the Midwest, this time being thrust into an investigation involving the illegal opioid trade, the pharmaceutical companies that often turn a blind eye in the name of profits, and the people dependent on them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy Torrance</span> Fictional character

Winnifred "Wendy" Torrance is a fictional character and protagonist of the 1977 horror novel The Shining by the American writer Stephen King. She also appears in the prologue of Doctor Sleep, a 2013 sequel to The Shining.

Women in <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> Role of women in Tolkiens fantasy

The roles of women in The Lord of the Rings have often been assessed as insignificant, or important only in relation to male characters in a story about men for boys. Meanwhile, other commentators have noted the empowerment of the three major women characters, Galadriel, Éowyn, and Arwen, and provided in-depth analysis of their roles within the narrative of The Lord of the Rings.

References

  1. HBO PICTURES ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO STEPHEN KING'S BEST-SELLING NOVEL ROSE MADDER
  2. Berkowitz, Joe (April 17, 2019). "Stephen King sold another book to Hollywood this week. Are there any left that aren't movies or TV series?". Fast Company.
  3. "Stephen King Novel 'Rose Madder' Set For the Screen". /Film. November 8, 2011.