The War of the Roses
By (Author) Warren Adler
Canongate Books
Canongate Books
17th June 2025
13th March 2025
Main
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
813.54
Hardback
256
Width 141mm, Height 220mm, Spine 22mm
364g
'Terrifying, black-humoured, black-hearted and bristling' Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl
Jonathan and Barbara Rose are the perfect couple, living the dream in their beautiful house, filled with their precious antiques, their darling children, and their prized Ferrari in the garage. It's all any red-blooded American could possibly want. But when Jonathan experiences a sudden heart attack (or so he thinks) Barbara realises that she wants a new life, without him. There's just one problem: they both want the house. For husband and wife, it's not just a residence: it's a passion, one that will escalate an ugly divorce into a full-blown battlefield, complete with weapons and casualties.
In this viciously black comedy, the Roses will each do whatever they can to destroy their better half - no matter the cost to themselves . . .
The divorcing Roses go to battle over their beautiful home and the objects in it - and take revenge to stunning heights. You may have seen the fantastic 1989 film with Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas, but the book is even more terrifying, black-humoured, black-hearted and bristling because you're trapped inside the self-justifying, increasingly mad minds of [Jonathan] and Barbara Rose -- GILLIAN FLYNN, author of GONE GIRL
A darkly comic study of a viciously disintegrating marriage * * Guardian * *
Macabre, humorous and occasionally harrowing * * Washington Post * *
Adler writes with skill and a sense of scene * * New York Times Book Review * *
The War of the Roses is a clever look at the break-up of a marriage . . . Both frightening and revealing * * Washington Star * *
A very, very funny novel * * New York Daily News * *
Warren Adler was an author and playwright, best known for his novel The War of the Roses which was made into the Golden Globe and BAFTA-nominated film starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. Adler optioned and sold film rights to more than a dozen of his novels and short stories, including Random Hearts, which stars Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas, and The Sunset Gang, which stars Jerry Stiller. Adler Entertainment Trust has additionally developed and/or optioned over twenty more of his books and plays. His works have been translated into twenty-five languages. Born in Brooklyn to Russian Jewish parents, he lived in New York until his death in 2019.