Vera

by Elizabeth Von Arnim

"Vera" by Elizabeth von Arnim is a novel published in 1921. Based on the author's disastrous second marriage, it follows naive Lucy Entwhistle as she marries widower Everard Wemyss. His mansion is haunted by memories of his dead first wife, Vera, whom Lucy suspects committed suicide. She gradually realizes her husband demands total intellectual and emotional servitude. Unlike von Arnim's lighthearted romantic works, this dark psychological study anticipates "Rebecca" and explores a young woman's entrapment by a pathologically narcissistic spouse.