Five of the worst mothers in literary history

Jeff Somers is the author of Lifers, the Avery Cates series from Orbit Books, Chum from Tyrus Books, and We Are Not Good People from Pocket/Gallery. He has published over thirty short stories as well. One of Somers's five worst mothers in literary history, as shared at B & N Reads:

Margaret White (Carrie, by Stephen King)

Most people concentrate on the monstrous teens in King’s iconic novel, the cool kids who torment Carrie until she has history’s worst psychotic break. But the kids aren’t the villains of this story, and neither is Carrie: it’s her awful, awful mother. How awful? Not only is everything—including the conception and birth of her own daughter—a sin to Margaret, she also seems to believe disciplining a child should involve locking her in a closet. Constantly. Margaret White is one of the few mothers who completely and richly deserves her terrible fate.

Read about another entry on the list.

Carrie is on Becky Ferreira's list of six of the most memorable bullies in literature, Julie Buntin's list of favorite literary kids with deadbeat and/or absent dads, Gregg Olsen's top ten list of deadly YA books, and James Dawson's top ten list of books to get you through high school.

Monique Alice writes: "Famously, while writing the manuscript for his first novel, Carrie, King became discouraged and chucked the pages into the trash. It was Tabitha [King, Stephen's wife] who fished the beginnings of the now iconic novel out and helped polish it into the gem we know and love."

--Marshal Zeringue