Six novels about power, deception, & control

Stacey Halls was born in Lancashire and worked as a journalist before her debut, The Familiars, was published in 2019. The Familiars was the bestselling debut hardback novel of that year, won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards' Debut Book of the Year. The Foundling, her second novel, was also a Sunday Times top ten bestseller. Mrs. England is her third novel.

At CrimeReads Halls tagged six favorite novels in which "[p]ower, control and deception aren’t just plot devices: they’re part of the reader experience." One title on the list:

Vera, by Elizabeth von Arnim

Based on von Arnim’s disastrous second marriage, Vera is one of the most powerful and frightening depictions of narcissism I’ve ever read. Published in the 1920s, it’s said to be Du Maurier’s inspiration for Rebecca, and many parallels can be drawn between the two, from the sun-soaked opening setting to the shotgun wedding and subsequent loneliness as the mistress of a vast house. Naive and grieving after the sudden death of her father, 20-something Lucy Entwistle is swept off her feet by Everard Wemyss, a widow 20 years her senior who she meets on holiday. Persuaded into marriage, she moves into his country house, The Willows, where a portrait of his first wife looms large. What follows is an onslaught of manipulation, possessive behaviour, cruelty and control disguised as love, that is still as relevant today as it was 100 years ago.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue