Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews was an intriguing and suspenseful book. I wanted to keep reading until I reached the end of the book. Sometimes, I felt like I was right there with the characters and wanted to help the children with their struggles of being locked in a bedroom by themselves. The author wanted readers to get a feel of her story and what happened to her.


Cathy, who was the oldest daughter, was the narrator in Flowers in the Attic. Chris was Cathy's older brother, and Cory and Carrie were five-year-old twins. Cathy told what happened to her family when their father died at the age of 36, and their mother couldn't handle the expenses of their house. They lost their house and had to leave all of their furniture and most of their other belongings and travel to their grandparents' house. However, Corrine hadn't seen or talked to her parents for 15 years, but she hoped they would accept her now and her children.


When they arrived at the house, they were greeted at the back door and led to the second floor to an area that was off limits to the rest of the staff except the last Friday of the month. The children and their mother entered a large room and were given instructions about staying there. The girls had to stay in one bed and the boys were in the second bed. Their mother had to leave the room, and the grandmother shut and locked the door. Nobody was to know the children were in there. They had to be absolutely quiet.


The next morning, they woke up, and their grandmother brought up a tray of food that was to last them the whole day. They also received a list of rules they had to follow.


On Friday, they entered the closet and walked up the staircase to the attic because they had to stay there for awhile. When they were in the attic, they started exploring their new surroundings, which was crowded with furniture and boxes. Then, Christopher found a room that had desks, bookcases, and blackboards. They couldn't believe what was in that room. They knew that some children had their school classroom in there.


Later on, when they walked downstairs, Chris and Cathy cleaned up the twins, and then played with them until their mother entered their room. Their grandmother followed her inside. The twins were overwhelmed and ran to hug her. They screamed out because they were so excited. However, their grandmother became furious with them because she didn't allow screaming in her house. She forced Corrine to show her children what would happen to them if they disobeyed. She had to take off her blouse and show them the welts she had from the beatings her own parents gave her.


The author created realistic characters, so that readers could relate to what each person experienced. The plot was also well constructed and moved along. I wanted to keep reading the story to find out what happened to the children.