Inspired by "The Robber Bridegroom," a grisly tale from the Brothers Grimm in which an evil groom lures three maidens into his lair and devours them, one by one. But in her version, Atwood brilliantly recasts the monster as Zenia, a villainess of demonic proportions, and sets her loose in the lives of three friends, Tony, Charis, and Roz. All three "have lost men, spirit, money, and time to their old college acquaintance, Zenia." In love and war, illusion and deceit, Zenia's subterranean malevolence takes us deep into her enemies' pasts.