Flowers In The Attic was the first book that Virginia C. Andrews in the Dollanger Series.
The book begins with a prologue about Charles Dickens. I have no idea why!
The Plot
The book is about four children in a family who live in Virginia in the 1950’s. Cathy narrates the plot as we meet her mother, (Corrine), her older brother Christopher and the twins, Cory, (a boy), and Carry, (a girl).
There are a typical 1950’s family where the mother stays home, and dresses for dinner and the husband goes to work. One day they decide to have a surprise party for their father’s birthday. The day of the party, they are all waiting for him to come home. Instead of a key opening the door they hear the door bell ring. It’s the police who have come to tell them their father/husband died in an automobile accent.
Their mother becomes depressed and feels that she can’t cope with life on her own. There are so many bills and she can’t pay them. She hasn’t seen her mother for years but is forced to write her to ask for help.
When she gets a letter back, she tells the children that they are moving to their grandparents mansion. Corrine tells her children that they won’t be living under the conditions that they were use to living. She tells them that when she was a teenager she did some terrible things and makes them promise not to tell her father, because he is sick.She also tells them that after her father dies she will have a large inheritance so they will be able to leave the mansion.
They take the train to get to the mansion, (Foxworth Hall ), in Pennsylvania. She tells the conductor they are being met and where to let them off the train. It’s dark and dreary when they get off the train and no one is there to meet them.
They have to walk to Foxworth Hall. She makes Cathy and Chris carry the twins. When they arrive at the mansion their grandmother meets them at the back door. She shows them where they are going to sleep, and it in the attic. There conditions are miserable, because 5 people must share two double sized beds.They can’t go out side of the house and their grandmother watches their every move.
They live trapped in the mansion for over three years. They find out that their name is Foxworth and not what they thought it was. (I’m not going to tell you why).The two older children aren’t happy because they have begun to have sexual desires and they have to do something about them. Their mother forgets they exist and the grandmother is the only adult that keeps watch over them.
What I Thought
I found that the characters each had a very distinct personality. The plot was developed quite well I just wished that I never got a clear picture of what was going on at times.
I’m not fond of books that describes the scenery, and there is a lot of that in this book.
I feel that the author likes to be a little too dramatic and that isn’t the way I like a book to be.
There is a lot of incest and that makes genes deform in the offspring. The adults all seem mean and cruel. As you continue reading you begin to wonder who has entrapped these children.
I don’t like books where most of the characters have the same first initial. This book is not for children, and I think it’s more of a chick book, because men don’t like to cry.
I was given this book by a friend who thought I would like it. I didn’t. If you like this type of book you will, and so I’m giving it a 3 star rating and letting you decide.
For more infomation on Virginis Andrews
https://completevca.com
This paperback book was printed in December of 1990 by Pocket Books Publishing House and has about 350 pages.
ISBN #0671729411
If you like books that scare you, you’ll love this book. I don’t I’m rating this with 3* and you can decide.
Thanks for reading my review
©LL2005