The Robber Bride

Here is another well known book I have somehow managed to avoid reading up til now. The most recent novel by Margaret Atwood that I have read was Oryx and Crake, several years ago. From her website, we learn that..."Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride is inspired by “The Robber Bridegroom,” a wonderfully grisly tale from the Brothers Grimm in which an evil groom lures three maidens into his lair and devours them, one by one. But in her version, Atwood brilliantly recasts the monster as Zenia, a villainess of demonic proportions, and sets her loose in the lives of three friends."
Three more unlikely friends you are not likely to meet. Diminutive Tony (Antonia) is a professor of history whose passion is war. She visits famous battle sites and collects a flower from each to press into her memory book where she dissects the event to see if it could have turned out differently. Charis (formerly known as Karen) is the quintessential hippy in garb, philosophy, and lifestyle. Brash and bold on the surface, Roz is the president of her own very successful company. In turn, each woman is taken in by Zenia's unique ability to ferret out their vulnerabilities, work her way intimately into their lives, and then steal what is most precious to them. She dies once, ostensibly blown up in a terrorist attack. But then she resurfaces, very much alive, and threatens again to destroy them all. Each woman has already survived a traumatic childhood, but can they survive a re-match with Zenia?