IRA Levin's Rosemary's Baby - by Ira Levin

About the Book

Rosemary Woodhouse and her struggling actor husband Guy move into the Bramford, an old New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and mostly elderly residents. Neighbors Roman and Minnie Castavet soon come nosing around to welcome the Woodhouses to the building, and despite Rosemary's reservations about their eccentricity and the weird noises that she keeps hearing, her husband takes a special shine to them. Shortly after Guy lands a plum Broadway role, Rosemary becomes pregnant, and the Castavets start taking a special interest in her welfare. As the sickened Rosemary becomes increasingly isolated, she begins to suspect that the Castavets' circle is not what it seems...

Book Synopsis

The genre-defining classic that ushered in the era of modern horror

One of the best-selling books of all time, Rosemary's Baby is a foundational work of suspense and psychological horror which remains as powerful and chilling as the day it was written. Hailed by Truman Capote as a "darkly brilliant tale" and adapted with near-total fidelity into the monumental film starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes, Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby ushered in the era of contemporary horror as we know it, opening the floodgates to later works such as The Exorcist and The Omen. Levin ingeniously fused gothic literary tradition with modern-day New York, creating an enduring classic which the New York Times placed on its recent list of "The 25 Most Significant New York City Novels From the Last 100 Years."

Rosemary Woodhouse and her struggling-actor husband Guy are thrilled to move into the Bramford, a sought-after Manhattan apartment building prized for its Victorian details and gargoyled facade. Yet as they learn of a darker side to the building's history--and become acquainted with their overly attentive neighbors, the Castevets--unspoken tensions enter into the young couples' relationship. Matters improve when Guy lands a major role, and Rosemary at last becomes pregnant. But as her pregnancy takes frightening turns, Rosemary begins to question if her neighbors' heightened interest is strictly innocent, or if their motivations--and those of Guy himself--portend terrifying consequences for her, and her unborn child. Is Rosemary "...going mad, or going sane"?

Foreword by Chuck Palahniuk.

Review Quotes

"What does it feel like to write the best thriller ever written? Only Ira Levin can answer that question."

-- "R. L. Stine, bestselling author of the Goosebumps series"

"A darkly brilliant tale of modern deviltry that induces the reader to believe the unbelievable. I believed it and was altogether enthralled."

-- "Truman Capote"

"Every novel he has ever written has been a marvel of plotting. He is the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel."

-- "Stephen King"

"Rosemary's Baby is an all-time classic, a canonical book all suspense writers need to read for their survival and all other people should read just because."

-- "Chicago Tribune"

"A succession of solid and quite legitimate surprises. The suspense is admirably sustained."

-- "New Yorker"

"Suspense is beautifully intertwined with everyday incidents; the delicate line between belief and disbelief is faultlessly drawn."

-- "New York Times"

"Suspicion. Fear. A dark secret at the core of the narrative. Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby possesses all the elements of a great mystery."

-- "Esquire"

"There are books which document the culture and books that create it, and Rosemary's Baby is both."

-- "Chuck Palahniuk, award-winning author of Fight Club"