Clare Whitfield is a UK-based writer living in a suburb where the main cultural landmark is a home store/Starbucks combo. She is the wife of a tattoo artist, mother of a small benign dictator and relies on a black Labrador for emotional stability. She has been a dancer, copywriter, amateur fire breather, buyer and mediocre weight lifter.
People of Abandoned Character is her first novel.
At CrimeReads Whitfield tagged seven literary murderers who inspired her novel, in which "everyone is potentially masquerading as something or someone else." One entry on the list:
Annie Wilkes, Misery by Stephen KingRead about the other entries on the list.
Played brilliantly by Kathy Bates in the movie that followed three years after the 1987 novel, Annie couldn’t be anicer person. On first impressions we are thankful novelist Paul is miraculously rescued from a car accident by a warm and homely ex-nurse. What could be safer? Annie is a natural caregiver—she can’t even bear profanity, but it doesn’t take long for her frightening temper to reveal itself. Armed with more twee phrases than Ned Flanders, Annie has a seriously dark streak. While Paul is trapped in her care Annie suffers from periodic episodes of dark moods and despair and freaks out over the most minor and unpredictable things, acting out violently. The woman is a nightmare and is the reason I am wary of people who profess to be fans of romance novels.
Misery is among Max Seeck's six most haunting settings in crime fiction, Rula Lenska's six favorite books, Jake Kerridge's top ten Stephen King books, John Niven's ten best writers in novels, Emerald Fennell's top ten villainesses in literature, and Lesley Glaister’s top ten books about incarceration.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
