A lot of incest but well worth a read!!! (Dollanganger Series - Virginia Andrews in general)

Name: Selket 123

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Product:	Dollanganger Series - Virginia Andrews in general
Date:	25/06/05 (462 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Each book continues the story, 2nd hand copies are cheap

Disadvantages: bit hard to follow story at times

The Dollanganger series consists of 5 books. The first - Flowers in the Attic tells the story of four children who have been locked in the attic by their grandmother. As this story progresses you begin to develop the whole picture. Christopher is the eldest and wants to be a doctor, Cathy is next and she wants to be a ballerina, the next two are twins - a boy -Cory and a girl - Carrie. They are supposed to be waiting for their grandfather to die to inherit his fortune.

The story begins as a happy family who is waiting for dad to return from work. Its his birthday and they have a cake etc waiting. Dad doesn't arrive, he has been killed in a car crash. So this is why they end up in the attic. The story shows the childrens account at being locked up in the attic. They have no sun and the curtains are always drawn. Their grandmother hates them and calls them 'devils spawn.' We realise later in the book that their mother and father were uncle and neice. This accounts for the grandmothers hatred.

Later in the book the child Cory dies and the children find out they have been poisoned by arsenic. They eventually escape and leave the attic and house. The next book 'Petals on the Wind,' continues their story. After escaping the attic, the children have nowhere to go but meet up with a doctor who takes them all in. Cathy ends up marrying him. Another major event is she meets and falls for her own mothers second husband. She gets pregnant and this is just to spite her mother. She also gets to be the ballerina and Chris the doctor. Here at ballet school she marries Julian, a ballet star. At the end of this book she goes back to the house to confront the grandmother. By this time she looks just like her mother used to look.

The next book is - 'If there be Thorns.' It continues their story. Cathy has 2 children and she lives with her brother Chris as man and wife. This is just like her parents did but this seems not their fault. They were locked in the attic for ages during puberty and have only had each other to rely on. Her youngest son has a few problems and he is turned against the family by a neighbour who turns out to be Cathy's mother. Chris and Cathy adopt a girl too in this book. Lots of things happen but its good to read.

The fourth book is 'Seeds of Yesterday.' Cathy's children have grown up. They all have their problems but Bart her child by her mothers husband is the worst. He knows Cathy and Chris are brother and sister but not knowing their full story hates them for it. Later in the book Chris dies in a car crash just like his own dad. There is a happy ending where the children accept each other etc.

The series has a fifth book which is a prequel, is called 'Garden of Shadows.' Here we read why the grandmother is cruel and twisted and we also learn that Cathy's mother and father were half brother and half sister. They had the same father. Her own husband had Corrine(Cathy's mother) with his brothers wife. There is a lot of incest here too. Later on Corrine and Chris meet and fall in love. Not knowing the full story they see no harm in this. They never find out the truth but the reader does.

The full set of 5 books are a fantastic read. If you read one after the other you begin to understand the story more. Then when you read the prequel you understand the grandmother more etc. I would thoroughly recommend these books because they are a joy to read. They have been written with lots of imagination and I really rate this author. She has many other sets available to buy too so I'm quite a fan. I would rate them 10/10

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