The Virgin in the Rose Bower
Or, The Tragedy of Glen Mawr Manor

Joyce Carol Oates, bestselling author of American Appetites, has won national acclaim, awards from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and a National Book Award for her carefully crafted tales. The Virgin in the Rose-Bower is a Gothic tale of monstrous deeds and heart-stopping suspense. With its mesmerizing visions of dark forces, it takes its place among chilling stories like those of Edgar Allan Poe. One May morning, news of a “hideous catastrophe” sweeps through the sleepy town of Winterthurn. In an ornate bed chamber of gloomy Glen Mawr Manor, a babe sleeping in his mother’s arms has been cruelly murdered. Joyce Carol Oates has turned to shadowy 19th-century New England for this spellbinding foray into the macabre. Part one in a trio of compelling mysteries, The Virgin in the Rose-Bower introduces the hero: handsome amateur detective Xavier Kilgarvan.