The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red - Plot Synopsis

Plot Synopsis

The novel relates the building of the Rimbauer house (which is eventually named "Rose Red") in 1906 by John Rimbauer for his wife, Ellen. John Rimbauer owned an oil company, and used much of his wealth to build the mansion, which was in the Tudor-Gothic style and situated on 40 acres (160,000 m2) of woodland in the heart of Seattle, Washington, in the United States. The site was a Native American burial ground (a common motif in early works by author Stephen King). The house appeared cursed even as it was being constructed: Three construction workers were killed on the site, and a construction foreman was murdered by a co-worker.

Various entries in the fictional diary also describe Ellen Rimbauer's naiveté regarding sexual matters. In sometimes graphic language, the novel's "diary entries" discuss Ellen's sexual relationships with her physically, sexually, and emotionally abusive husband; her growing awareness of her lesbianism (or possible bisexuality; the novel is unclear); her friendship and sexual relationship with Sukeena; the birth of her children; and her growing dislike (even hatred) of her husband. The novel portrays Ellen Rimbauer as a victim of sexual repression and Victorian morality.

The novel tells how, while vacationing in Africa during the construction of her home, Ellen Rimbauer made the acquaintance of Sukeena, a local tribeswoman. Ellen and Sukeena became very close, and Sukeena accompanied the Rimbauers back to the United States. The Rimbauers had two children, April (born with a withered left arm) and Adam. Deaths and mysterious disappearances continued at the house. One of John Rimbauer's friends died of an allergic reaction to a bee sting in the solarium, and John Rimbauer's business partner (whom Rimbauer had cheated out of his part of their oil fortune) hanged himself in the solarium in front of Rimbauer's children. Eight-year-old April also disappeared in the house, and Sukeena was tortured by the local police after being suspected of April's murder. John Rimbauer (whom his wife suspected of adultery) committed suicide by throwing himself from one of the mansion's towers shortly thereafter (an event which the reader learns later was actually John's murder at the hands of Ellen Rimbauer and Sukeena).

As the novel's plot progresses, Ellen Rimbauer and Sukeena continue to live in the house. Ellen believed that if she never stopped building the house, she would never die. Rimbauer used nearly all of her dead husband's fortune to continually add to the home over the next several decades, enlarging it significantly (in a plot element reminiscent of the real-life construction of the Winchester Mystery House). Mysterious disappearances continued: Deanna Petrie, an actress friend of Ellen Rimbauer's, and Sukeena both disappeared over the next few years.

In the fictional afterword, Ellen Rimbauer's grandson, Steven Rimbauer, notes that Ellen Rimbauer herself disappeared in the house in 1950 (which is where the fictional diary entries which comprise the novel's body end). The "afterword" also relates that, for several years after Ellen Rimbauer's disappearance, only servants occupied Rose Red. Adam Rimbauer inherited the house and lived there for a short time with his wife, but left after witnessing several paranormal events and allowed the house to be abandoned. After Adam Rimbauer's death, his wife sold off many of the home's antique furnishings. She generated some income by permitting the fictional "Seattle Historical Society" to give tours of the house; these ceased in 1972 after a participant disappeared while on a tour of the mansion. Investigations of the grounds and structure were conducted in the 1960s and 1970s to seek an explanation for the strange sounds, lights, and other phenomena alleged to have occurred there. But these ended, and the house began to fall into disrepair. In all, 26 people disappeared or died at Rose Red.

The novel's "afterword" concludes by relating that a paranormal investigation into Rose Red by Dr. Joyce Reardon led to the deaths of several participants, and the home was demolished to make way for condominiums.