A Perfect Family With Hidden Dark Secrets

Title: Flowers in the Attic
Author: V.C. Andrews












Photo from goodreads.com

Synopsis:

The Dollanganger family seem like an ordinary family to their friends in Gladstone, PA.  Four children who many consider being perfect, with a loving mother and father.  Nothing could ever go wrong.  Or could it?  

Everything changes the day the father dies suddenly in a car crash.  The mother, desperate for money when she finds out her late husband left her with nothing at the time of his death, writes to her parents.  Waiting and hoping that her mother will help her out in her time of need.  The children never heard of these grandparents, but when the mother explains how her parents are rich, the kids can't wait to live a life of luxury.  However, they will soon learn there are many secrets within their family and that their grandparents aren't whom they seem.  When they arrive at their grandparents' house, the children have no idea why they're being locked up in an attic, a room that no one, not even servants visit.  The grandmother hates them, as they witness from the moment they arrive and they don't know why.  What hasn't their mother told them?

For years they are trapped in the attic with their mother always promising they'll only be there for a few days, weeks, or months. Time and time again their mother leaves them, not telling them when or if she'll be back.  Will the Dollanganger children ever get their freedom back?

My Thoughts:

Andrews is a great write and I loved this book.  I'll admit I saw the new movie on Lifetime two years ago before ever reading the book.  But it was that movie that got me into reading the book.  And I'm glad I was finally able to get a copy at the library.  Andrews writing is raw and controversial which had my attention from beginning to end.

Secrets, secrets, secrets.  The more you read the book, the more secrets you discovered that were hidden from the children.  You really feel their pain being locked in the attic for years.  The death of the youngest child is so sad.  Even when I saw the movie, I cried.  (If you've read the new book Secret Brother then you know what happens).  The grandmother and mother were the worst people in the book.  The grandmother kept calling the grandchildren evil when they had no clue what their parents had done.  And the mother, how could she even let her mother treat her own children like this?  She was selfish and only cared about herself.  

I rated this book 5 stars because I absolutely loved it.  I hardly wanted to put it down because even though I knew what was going to happen, it was still always a sense of mystery reading the book.