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." 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 specializes in finding missing persons. The short-tempered Norman has recently been accused of assaulting and 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 still lives with and takes abuse from her husband. One day, she notices a drop of blood on their bedsheet and realizes that her continued life with Norman could eventually kill her. Taking Norman's credit card, Rosie departs on a bus to an unfamiliar city in the Midwest, with no clear plan of action. At the bus station, 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 pawn shop, 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 pawn shop, who asks her to read an excerpt from a book. Rob likes Rosie's voice and offers her a job recording audiobooks. Some time later, Bill Steiner, the pawn shop 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 lady in the painting, whom she calls "Rose Madder" because of her dress and