Rose Madder by Stephen King. Short summary

5 seconds

Rosie Daniels runs away from her cop husband Norman, who regularly beats her. After moving to another city in search of a new life, Rose buys a strange painting through which a woman can enter another reality.

1 minute

Rosie Daniels has lived for years with an inadequate husband, Norman, who regularly beats her. The beatings have caused the woman to miscarry. Rosie is afraid to leave her husband, because he works for the police and specializes in finding people.

Finally, Rosie decides to run away. She leaves for a strange city, where kind people help her get used to it. At the pawnshop where Rosie is trying to sell her engagement ring, a woman notices a picture of a woman in a maroon chiton. Rosie exchanges it for the ring.

The girl’s life gets better, there are friends and a man she loves. But one day Rosie is transported through the painting to another world. A woman in a maroon chiton (Rosa Marena) asks her to rescue a child from an underground labyrinth guarded by a one-eyed bull, Erinius. Rosie rescues the child, for which Rosa Marena promises to help her one day. In the morning, the girl doesn’t know if she was dreaming or not.

Norman finds Rosie. He kills her friends and wants to finish off the heroine as well. Rosie lures her ex-husband into the picture, where Rosa Marena massacres him.