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 and trials 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 Carolina, and Rose Madder promises to repay her. 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 Rosie 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 walk 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 aggression. Adaptations In 1996, HBO Pictures acquired the rights to the novel to make a television movie, making the first HBO's film based on Stephen King's novel. Although, HBO turned it down and the project never came to fruition. A film adaptation of Rose Madder was in development in 2011, but the project fell apart. There was an audiobook made narrated by Blair Brown. Connections to other King works The character of Cynthia Smith appeared in Desperation. In the prologue, Rose is reading Misery's Journey, an entry in the fictional series of books written by the main character in King's novel, Misery. The city of Lud from The Dark Tower appears in this novel. References 1995 American novels American horror novels Novels by Stephen King Classical mythology in popular culture Viking Press books Domestic violence in fiction Feminist novels