Who is the ultimate femme fatale? Post to win £100 John Lewis voucher and signed copies of The Sudden Departure Of The Frasers

[EmilyMumsnet]

How does one get whatever one wants? Pop culture seems to have the answer: become a femme fatale. It seems that as long as you're a sexy woman with a red lipstick and a good line in seduction, your destructive powers can know no bounds.

Louise Candlish's latest novel, The Sudden Departure Of The Frasers, deals with one such woman. When Christy and Joe Davenport are handed the keys to their dream house, they do wonder how they nabbed it for such a low price. Christy finds herself drawn deeper into the mystery of the house's previous occupant - one Amber Fraser - and a dark and shocking secret.

For a chance to win a £100 John Lewis voucher and a signed copy of the book, tell us who is, in your opinion, the ultimate femme fatale. Does Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca reign supreme, or does she pale in comparison to Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct?

5 runners-up will also receive signed copies of the book. Post on the thread before Monday 29 June to have a chance of winning.

This competition is sponsored by Penguin Books.

This competition is now closed. Winners will be contacted shortly

[blueshoes]

Wendy Deng
Valerie Trierweiler
Anne Boleyn

[WonderingMinstrels]

Marlene Dietrich
Tallulah Bankhead

[InAndOfMyself]

The archetype of the femme fatale is mostly the male reaction to women's liberation. Looking at most of the books/movies I can think of the tales are framed as cautionary morality plays showing what can happen when a woman is independent and in control of her own sexuality.

I'd be more interested in a thread discussing strong female leads.

[CopperPan]

For me it would be Linda Florentino in The Last Seduction or Sarah Michelle Gellar in Cruel Intentions.

[Tamar86]

Anna Karenina

[CMOTDibbler]

Taking it literally, Ziva in NCIS

[FreckledLeopard]

Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction.

Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct.

[DuchessofMalfi]

Are we talking novels or films? If novels, then I think Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind.

Don't watch films very often, so not sure who to suggest for that category :)

[lionheart]

Lana Turner (Postman)
Rita Hayworth (Gilda)

[IggyStrop]

Salma Hayek in Dusk Till Dawn.

[Burgermanuk]

Jessica Rabbit shes not bad shes just drawn that way

[pieman69uk]

gail from Corrie. are any of her conquests alive to tell the tale?

[BizziLiz]

Lauren Bacall as Vivien in 'The Big Sleep'

[alialiath]

Dominika Egorova who's a Russian agent, in Jason Matthews espionage novel Red Sparrow

[Loopilu]

Bathsheba Everdeene from Thomas Hardy's 'Far From The Madding Crowd' ...

[andywedge]

Salome

[CleverPlansAndSecretTricks]

Jessica Rabbit

[ChippyMinton]

Moll Flanders

[CleverPlansAndSecretTricks]

Audrey (twin peaks)

[Bidmellor]

Salome Mata Hari but probably Sharon Stone in Basic instinct

[BuzzardBird]

Lisbeth Salander

[cavylover]

Catwoman

[DillEater]

Loretta, the computer-generated femme fatale from Red Dwarf VI: Gunmen of the Apocalypse, played by Jennifer Calvert.

[stephimoon]

Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games.

[LorelaiVictoriaGilmore]

Patrick Dennis' wonderful Auntie Mame is my ultimate femme fatale. Charming, irresistable, irreverent and dangerous . . . I hope to be like her one day!