The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

Details: First published 1993; cover shown is the Virago (UK) 2000 paperback reprint. Cover photograph by Erwin Blumenfeld (1937). 470p. Mooched from Australia.

Blurb: "Zenia is beautiful, smart and greedy, by turns manipulative and vulnerable, needy and ruthless; a man's dream and a woman's nightmare. She is also dead. Just to make absolutely sure Tony, Roz and Charis are there for the funeral. But five years on, as the three women share an indulgent, sisterly lunch, the unthinkable happens: 'with waves of ill will flowing out of her like cosmic radiation', Zenia is back..."

Verdict: I read this for the first time in my early 20s, when I first discovered Margaret Atwood. Along with my other two favouite Atwood novels (Cat's Eye and Alias Grace), The Robber Bride is one of those rare books that I'm happy to reread.