Bram Stoker Award Best Novel Winner

Misery

by Stephen King

Summary

Best selling novelist Paul Sheldon crashes his car in a Colorado snowstorm and wakes in the home of Annie Wilkes, a former nurse who calls herself his number one fan. When Annie discovers he has killed off her favorite character, she imprisons and tortures him, forcing him to write a new book that brings the heroine back to life. King turns a single room into a claustrophobic battleground and uses it to examine obsession, addiction, and the strange bond between a writer and his readers.

Historical Context & Significance

King wrote the novel partly as a metaphor for his own struggle with addiction, and the 1990 film adaptation earned Kathy Bates the Academy Award for Best Actress.