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{{Infobox book| <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name          = Rosemary's Baby
| title_orig    =
| translator    =
| image         = Rosemary's Baby (1967) front cover, first edition.jpg
| caption       = Cover of 1967 first edition
| author        = [[Ira Levin]]
| cover_artist  =
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| series        =
| genre         = [[Horror fiction|Horror]]
| publisher     = [[Random House]]
| release_date  = April 13, 1967
| media_type    = Print ([[hardcover]] and [[paperback]]) and Audio Book
| pages         =
| isbn          =
| preceded_by   =
| followed_by   = [[Son of Rosemary]]
}}
'''''Rosemary's Baby''''' is a 1967 [[horror novel]] by American writer [[Ira Levin]]; it was his second published book. The novel follows a young couple who move into an apartment building, where they befriend an older couple in the neighboring apartment, who become increasingly involved when Rosemary falls pregnant. It was the best-selling horror novel of the 1960s, selling over four million copies.{{sfn|Eiss|1994|p=38}} The high popularity of the novel was a catalyst for a boom in popularity for horror fiction, which achieved enormous commercial success in its wake.{{Sfn|Pringle|2014|p=103}}

==Plot==
The book centers on Rosemary Woodhouse, a young woman who moves into the Bramford, a historic [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival-style]] [[New York City]] apartment building, with her husband, Guy, a struggling actor. Guy has so far appeared only in small roles in the stage plays ''[[Luther (play)|Luther]],'' ''[[Nobody Loves an Albatross]],'' and various TV commercials. A friend warns the pair that the Bramford has a disturbing history involving [[witchcraft]] and murder, but they discount this. Rosemary wants to start a family, but Guy prefers waiting until his career is more established.

{{Anchor|castevet}}Neighbors Minnie and Roman Castevet, an eccentric, elderly couple, welcome Rosemary and Guy to the Bramford. Rosemary finds them meddlesome and annoying, but Guy begins frequently visiting them.

After the lead actor in a new stage play suddenly goes blind, Guy is cast in the role. Immediately afterward, Guy unexpectedly agrees with Rosemary that they should have their first child. That night, Rosemary dreams of a rough sexual encounter with a huge, inhuman creature with yellow eyes. The next morning Rosemary finds claw marks on her breasts and groin, which Guy dismisses as resulting from his [[hangnail]], which he has cut. Rosemary subsequently learns that she is pregnant.

Rosemary falls severely ill; but her intense pain and weight loss are ignored by others and attributed to [[hysteria]]. Her doctor and Minnie feed her strange and foul concoctions. Rosemary also develops a peculiar craving for [[raw meat]].

Guy's performance in the play garners favorable notices, and other increasingly significant roles follow. Guy soon begins talking about a career in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]].

Rosemary's friend, Edward "Hutch" Hutchins, also becomes mysteriously ill. He had sent Rosemary a warning, leading to her discovery that Roman Castevet is the leader of a [[Satanism|Satanic]] [[coven]]. She suspects her unborn baby is wanted as a sacrifice to the [[devil]]. Despite her growing conviction, she is unable to convince anyone, particularly Guy. Ultimately, Rosemary discovers the coven's real intent for wanting her baby, whom she names Andrew.

== Publication ==
[[Ira Levin]] published his debut novel ''[[A Kiss Before Dying (novel)|A Kiss Before Dying]]'' in 1953, which won the [[Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel|Edgar Award for Best First Novel]]. His sophomore novel was ''Rosemary's Baby'', which was published by [[Random House]] on April 13, 1967.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Rosemary's Baby |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/ira-levin-6/rosemarys-baby/ |access-date=2025-08-27 |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref>{{Sfn|Backer|2015|p=308}}

Levin was inspired by the idea of a woman pregnant with a fetus which was not human — he briefly considered having the father be an extraterrestrial but felt that this would be too similar to [[John Wyndham]]'s ''[[The Midwich Cuckoos]]''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Levin |first=Ira |date=November 5, 2012 |title="Stuck with Satan": Ira Levin on the Origins of Rosemary's Baby |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2541--stuck-with-satan-ira-levin-on-the-origins-of-rosemary-s-baby |access-date=2025-08-27 |website=The Criterion Collection |language=en}}</ref> Having decided on Manhattan as the setting, specifically the Bramford apartment building, which was inspired by [[The Dakota]], Levin used contemporary newspapers to include real world events in the novel, such as the [[1966 New York City transit strike|1966 transit strike]], the [[1965 New York City mayoral election|1965 mayoral election]] and the [[1965 visit by Pope Paul VI to the United States|1965 visit of the Pope]], which would lend a realistic air to the story.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=1967-04-07 |title=Books of The Times; What Witches? Where? (Published 1967) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/04/07/archives/books-of-the-times-what-witches-where.html?searchResultPosition=31 |access-date=2025-08-27 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Historic American Buildings Survey, 1965, SOUTH (FRONT) FACADE. - The Dakota (Apartments), 1 West Seventy-second Street, Central Park West, New York, New York County, NY HABS NY,31-NEYO,74-1 (cropped).tif|thumb|[[The Dakota]] (pictured in 1965) served as the inspiration for the Bramford]]

==Critical reception==

=== Contemporary reviews ===
On the first edition [[dust jacket]], [[Truman Capote]] compared the novel to [[Henry James]]'s ''[[The Turn of the Screw]]'', however in a review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Eliot Fremont-Smith]] favored a comparison to early [[Evelyn Waugh]] or late [[Thorne Smith]].<ref name=":2" /> The novel was a best-seller, selling over four-million copies and becoming the best-selling horror novel of the 1960s.{{sfn|Eiss|1994|p=38}} It received rave reviews upon its publication, including a starred review from ''[[Kirkus Reviews|Kirkus]]'' and declarations that it was a modern masterpiece.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite magazine |last=Counter |first=Rosemary |date=2017-06-01 |title=The Most Cursed Hit Movie Ever Made |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/06/the-most-cursed-hit-movie-ever-made-rosemarys-baby |access-date=2025-08-27 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Later analysis ===
The writer [[Cherry Wilder]] wrote that "''Rosemary's Baby'' is one of the most perfectly crafted thrillers ever written".<ref>Cherry Wilder, "Levin, Ira" in [[Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers]] by Curtis C. Smith. St. James Press, 1986; {{ISBN|0-912289-27-9}} (pp. 443-444).</ref> Horror scholar [[Gary William Crawford|Gary Crawford]] described ''Rosemary's Baby'' as "a genuine masterpiece".<ref>Gary Crawford, "Ira Levin" in [[Jack Sullivan (literary scholar)|Jack Sullivan]] (ed.) (1986) ''[[The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural]]'' Viking Press, 1986; {{ISBN|0-670-80902-0}} (pg. 264).</ref> [[David Pringle]] described the novel as "this sly, seductive impeccably-written horror novel ... is an expertly constructed story, a playwright's book, in which every physical detail and line of dialogue counts."{{sfn|Eiss|1994|p=38}} ''Rosemary's Baby'' was considered a forerunner to the fiction of [[Stephen King]] and [[Peter Straub]], and the novel and film were credited with inspiring the popularity of mass-market horror fiction in the 1970s and 1980s and later successful film series such as ''[[The Exorcist (franchise)|The Exorcist]]'' and ''[[The Omen (franchise)|The Omen]]''.{{Sfn|McCarthy|Murphy|2016|p=128}}{{Sfn|Pringle|2014|p=103}}<ref name=":3" />

==Sequel==
Thirty years later Levin published a sequel to the novel, titled ''[[Son of Rosemary]]'' (1997).<ref>Christopher Bonanos, "No Rest For The Wicked", ''[[New York Magazine]]'', p. 135 (8 September 1997).</ref> Levin dedicated it to [[Mia Farrow]].

==Censorship==
''Rosemary's Baby'' was published in Spanish translation during the [[Francoist Spain|Francoist dictatorship]]. The [[Censorship in Francoist Spain|Francoist censors]] cut passages from this translation, claiming the cut passages "glorified Satan".<ref name="conversion">{{Cite web |url=https://theconversation.com/francos-invisible-legacy-books-across-the-hispanic-world-are-still-scarred-by-his-censorship-115488 |title= Franco's invisible legacy: books across the Hispanic world are still scarred by his censorship |last=Cornellà-Detrell |first=Jordi |date=April 15, 2019 |website=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]|access-date=March 13, 2020}}</ref> As of April 2019, all the Spanish-language editions of the book still retain these cuts.<ref name="conversion" />

==Adaptations==
The film rights were sold prior to publication to [[William Castle]].<ref name=":1" /> In 1968, the novel was [[Rosemary's Baby (film)|adapted as a film of the same name]], starring [[Mia Farrow]], with [[John Cassavetes]] as Guy. [[Ruth Gordon]], who played Minnie Castevet, won an [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress]]. [[Roman Polanski]], who wrote and directed the film, was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium]].<ref>Fran Capo, ''Myths and Mysteries of New York: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained'', pg. 25 (Morris Book Publishing, 2011); {{ISBN|978-0-7627-6107-4}}</ref>

A [[television film]] sequel to the Polanski film, ''[[Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby]]'', was produced in 1976.

In 2014, the novel was adapted as an [[NBC]] [[Rosemary's Baby (miniseries)|television miniseries]], with [[Zoe Saldaña]] as Rosemary and [[Patrick J. Adams]] as Guy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stanley |first=Alessandra |date=2014-05-08 |title=Wanting a Child in the Worst Way |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/09/arts/television/rosemarys-baby-is-remade-into-a-mini-series.html?searchResultPosition=16 |access-date=2025-08-27 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en}}</ref> Set in Paris, the two-part series was directed by [[Agnieszka Holland]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Donadio |first=Rachel |date=2014-05-08 |title=Bedeviled Anew by a Pregnancy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/arts/television/agnieszka-hollands-post-feminist-rosemarys-baby-on-nbc.html?searchResultPosition=15 |access-date=2025-08-27 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en}}</ref>

[[Paramount Players|Paramount]] produced a prequel in 2024 titled ''[[Apartment 7A]]'', starring [[Julia Garner]] and [[Dianne Wiest]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wilkinson |first=Alissa |date=2024-09-26 |title='Apartment 7A' Review: All Devil, Few Details |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/26/movies/apartment-7a-review.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=2025-08-27 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin|colwidth=30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last=Backer |first=Ron |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmJiCQAAQBAJ&q=rosemary's+baby+ira+levin |title=Classic Horror Films and the Literature That Inspired Them |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2021-3 |language=en}}
* {{cite book|isbn=0-87972-653-9 |editor-first=Harry Edwin |editor-last=Eiss |publisher=Bowling Green State University Press |title=Images of the Child |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6d-0zUTtbsC |year=1994}}
* {{Cite book |last1=McCarthy |first1=Elizabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kvt7DQAAQBAJ&q=rosemary's+baby+ira+levin |title=Lost Souls of Horror and the Gothic: Fifty-Four Neglected Authors, Actors, Artists and Others |last2=Murphy |first2=Bernice M. |date=2016-10-28 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-6314-2 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pringle |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EvhlBAAAQBAJ |title=Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels |date=2014 |publisher=Hatchette UK |isbn=978-1-4732-0806-3 |language=en}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*[https://www.iralevin.org/rosemarys-baby-book.html Official entry] at IraLevin.org
*[https://www.rosemarysbabyalbum.com "Rosemary's Baby Album" (in-depth visual feature about novel's creation on Ira Levin's website)]
*[http://www.mansionbooks.com/BookDetail.php?bk=238 Photos of the first edition of ''Rosemary's Baby'']

{{Ira Levin}}
{{Rosemary's Baby}}


[[Category:1967 controversies]]
[[Category:1967 American novels]]
[[Category:1960s horror novels]]
[[Category:American horror novels]]
[[Category:Novels set in New York City]]
[[Category:Novels set in 1965]]
[[Category:Novels set in 1966]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 1960s]]
[[Category:Novels about actors]]
[[Category:Novels about cults]]
[[Category:Novels about demons]]
[[Category:Novels about human pregnancy]]
[[Category:Novels about marriage]]
[[Category:Novels about Satanism]]
[[Category:Novels about witches and witchcraft]]
[[Category:Novels about the Antichrist]]
[[Category:Fiction about the Devil]]
[[Category:Religious controversies in literature]]
[[Category:Censored books]]
[[Category:Censorship in Spain]]
[[Category:American novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Horror novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:American novels adapted into television shows]]
[[Category:Books with cover art by Paul Bacon]]
[[Category:Novels by Ira Levin]]
[[Category:Rosemary's Baby (franchise)]]
[[Category:Random House books]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Rosemary's Baby (novel)|access_date=2026-03-05}}