15 of the most evil moms in literature

There are plenty of admirable mothers in books: Molly Weasley, Marmee from Little Women — but this Mother’s Day, let’s look to the opposite end of the spectrum, at the women whose maternal instinct seemed a little less nuturing and a little more satanic.

First up, Miss Havisham: Estella's adopted mother trained her to break men's hearts. (Eh, there are worse jobs out there.)

Matilda's mother didn't understand her brilliant daughter and verged on negligent.

Is there anything more horrifying than a controlling, obsessed religious zealot coming at you with a knife?

Sure she's not evil to her own children, but the murderous, ambitious (not to mention incestuous) Cersei definitely qualifies for this list.

Marrying the man who killed your husband — and your husband's brother — is low.

Mary is the classic example of an abusive, manipulative monster of a mother.

Charlotte definitely should have realized something creepy was going on a lot sooner.

No one is saying Janice had an easy life, and it sucks to be chained to a husband like Rabbit, but even so …

At times you feel sorry for Eva, mother of a murderer, but her coldness toward her son from the start might have helped lead Kevin down a dark path.

The mother of all overbearing Jewish mothers, Sophie gave Portnoy plenty to complain about.

Distant and dismissive, Eleanor is every stereotype of a terrible WASP mother. She becomes downright evil when you realize she might have been covering up her husband's assault.

Did you forget that Daisy had a baby? Exactly.

Black buttons will haunt our nightmares forever thanks to the Other Mother.

It's the first thing they teach you when you become a new mother: Don't brainwash your child into becoming a political pawn.

She definitely had protective instincts when it came to her baby, but that doesn't mean she's not a monster (whether or not she looks like Angelina Jolie).