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Flowers in the Attic
V.C. Andrews
ISBN # 0-671-72941-1
1979
Pocket Books

V.C. Andrews' novel Flowers in the Attic, the first in the Dollanganger Family series, is perhaps one of the most haunting books I've ever read. It is only the second book I've ever read more than once, and the second time around, it was even more disturbing than the first time. It was interesting to note two things: I tore through it even more quickly than I did when I read it as a teenager it was that engaging, even as a second read and I found it even more chilling as a mother of three than I did when I myself was a child.

Flowers in the Attic tells the story of a seemingly all-American family: Chris and Corrine Dollanganger and their children, Chris Jr., Cathy, and the twins, Carrie and Cory. When the elder Chris is tragically killed in a car accident, Corrine is left a widow with four children, and sadly, she hasn't the first skill or even an inkling of a way to get a job and support her family. Disowned by her own family because of the great (in their eyes) sin of marrying her half-uncle, Corrine begs her parents for help, and they eventually give in. In the middle of the night, she takes her frightened and confused, still grieving children by train into the mountains of Virginia, promising them they will soon inherit a fortune and will be the happiest, richest children alive.

Unfortunately, she lied. Her entire relationship with her children thereafter is based on nothing but lies. Because her father must not know they exist, or Corrine will not be written back into his will, she and her militaristic mother lock the four children in an upstairs bedroom with only an attic in which to play. The bulk of the book describes the awful things that can happen to a child, both physically, emotionally and spiritually when he or she is locked away from the rest of the world, with no sunlight, no contact with other children, little stimulation other than books and each other and the threat of severe punishment from a hateful grandmother. To make matters worse, the children must suffer while seeing their mother grow happier each day, flaunting her expensive clothes and jewelry, boasting about her active, exciting new social life.

Throughout the book, the lines between family love and sexual love are often blurred. Told from Cathy's point of view, their mother's beauty is always something of wonder and something Cathy wishes to someday obtain. She doesn't just want to be beautiful, but

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