by Mary Beougher

Created on: August 24, 2010

Seeds of Yesterday by V.C. Andrews is the fourth in the series following Flowers in the Attic. Although this book is still told from Cathy’s point of view, it is heavily focused on her two sons, Jory and Bart. Also involved is her adopted daughter, Cindy, but her role is much smaller, almost being used solely to exaggerate the distinct personalities of the two brothers.

Jory has surpassed Cathy and is at the top of his career as a ballet dancer with Melodie as his partner both in life and on the stage. Bart still harbors traces of resentment toward his mother and her illicit love for her brother, and at the same time he has finally come into his own when at the occasion of his twenty-fifth birthday he will inherit the Foxworth fortune, the very same to which Chris, Cathy, Cory, and Carrie lost over three years of their lives.

As if some horrible twist of fate must be played out, Jory is terribly injured while performing at Bart’s birthday party. Upon being told that he will never dance again, Jory shuts down and turns away from his family. Cathy is reminded strongly of her first husband and Jory’s father, Julian, after he sustained injuries in a car accident and was told that his dancing days were over. She fears that Jory may follow in his father’s footsteps and take his own life. Jory’s wife, Melodie, who is pregnant, can’t deal with the reality of her husband’s condition and in part it is her rejection that cripples Jory’s spirit along with his legs. Eventually, Cathy is able to reach him and Jory begins the long road back to recovery.

Bart comes into his inheritance, but soon realizes that all the money and power at his disposal doesn’t make up for the inadequacies that he feels about himself. His self-doubt only fuels the cruel streak in his nature and at the same time he pleads for Cathy’s undivided love, convinced that if she tells him that she loved his father best, it will make everything all right. He is spurred on by the reappearance of Cathy and Chris’s long lost Uncle Joel, presumed dead years before they were ever born. With Joel’s help, Bart begins a reign of religious zealism that mirrors the extremism of the Grandmother in Flowers in the Attic, and Cathy despairs at how to reach him.

This book is the culmination of the series as the seeds sown far in the past come to full flower generations later. It is the struggle of the children to learn from and move beyond the sins of the parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents and by the end, it also becomes a story of redemption. It is a fitting end to a shocking and horrific tale that shines all the brighter for its moments of love and happiness. Cathy, who seems to be the most tormented of all the children in the attic, finally finds the peace she was always searching for.

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