Frances Fyfield: The Playroom (USA 2014)

From the Publisher:
An unforgettable psychological thriller reminiscent of Emma Donoghue's Room and V. C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic
Katherine and David have the perfect life: they are beautiful, rich, debonair, and gifted. But cracks begin to form beneath the smooth exterior when David suspects that one of their two children is not his. There is no other reason why chubby, petulant Jeanetta does not conform to David's standards of perfection and order.

Soon, David's mood swings become more violent and irrational. In an attempt to exercise some control over his world, he sends Jeanetta to the playroom... and locks the door. With harrowing precision, Fyfield tells the story of a family's descent into madness.

Frances Fyfield: The Playroom. A Novel. Witness Impulse / HarperCollins, ISBN: 9780062304964 (May, 2014), 384 p., $11.99, eBook $7.99.

Frances Fyfield: The Playroom (UK 2003)

From the Publisher:
Kathryn and David Allendale appear to be the ideal couple: she, petite, pretty, an asset any husband might envy; he, dark, debonair and gifted.

But beneath the smooth surface, unseen by their envious or admiring friends and neighbours, splinters are beginning to form. David suspects one of their two children is not his own. Kathryn struggles to keep the peace, to iron out family confrontations and maintain the calm of their lives together.

But slowly things start to slip from her control. David's mood swings increase, becoming more irrational and violent. His drive to dominate and order the world he's created intensifies to the point of locking the playroom door and pocketing the key - a move that signals the final route into the chaos that will disrupt their perfect world...

Frances Fyfield: The Playroom. Time Warner Paperbacks, ISBN: 0751532517 (May, 2003), 360 p., £6.99.

Frances Hegarty: The Playroom (USA 1992)

From the Publisher:
Architect David Allendale has made a showplace of his elegant home near Hyde Park; his charming wife Katherine is the centerpiece of his creation. Only their daughter Jeanetta, an impulsive four-year-old, disrupts his ideal of perfect harmony. David suspects that she is not his own child.

Katherine, who spent her childhood in foster homes, struggles to keep the peace. But David's moods grow darker, his attempts to control his family ever more bizarre. Finally he locks Jeanetta in the playroom, and pockets the only key. One night, as classical music accents the polite murmurings of dinner guests, faint scratching sounds are heard behind a locked door... and THE PLAYROOM uncoils towards its shocking climax.

Frances Hegarty: The Playroom. Pocket Books, ISBN: 0671735837 (November, 1992), 320 p., $4.99.

Frances Hegarty: The Playroom (USA 1991)

From the Publisher:
Frances Hegarty, writing as Frances Fyfield, is the award-winning author of three critically acclaimed crime novels that have assured her reputation on both sides of the Atlantic. THE PLAYROOM marks a stunning departure: a psychological novel distinguished by her rare insight, acute eye for detail, and her brilliant understanding of human behavior and motives, especially the most subtle and sinister.

THE PLAYROOM
Order and elegance reign supreme in the spacious Allendale home near Hyde Park. David Allendale, a suave, devastatingly attractive architect, has made his home a showplace and his wife, Katherine, the centerpiece. Petite and charming, with the timorous grace of a gazelle, Katherine is the envy of her neighbors and social acquaintances.

Their two lovely children appear to complete this perfect family portrait. But Jeanetta, a robustly plump, angel-haired four-year-old, disrupts David's idea of perfect harmony. Jeanetta is impulsive and affectionate, a lively little girl who adores sweets, spills food on carpets and mashes bread onto tabletops when she doesn't get her way. David suspects that she is not his own child.

Katherine, who treasures the safety David provides after a childhood spent in foster homes, struggles to keep peace and maintain the calm of their lives together. But David's moods grow ever darker, his attempts to control his family ever more bizarre. Katherine's favorite dress disappears from her closet, replaced by David's choice; he takes a punishing scissors to Jeanetta's golden curls; he locks Jeanetta in the playroom, and pockets the only key.

Frances Hegarty: The Playroom. Pocket Books, ISBN: 0671735829 (September, 1991), 295 p., $20.00.