For a book written in 1979, Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews has spent a considerable amount of time on various bestseller lists. In Flowers in the Attic, a picture perfect 1950’s family is suddenly torn apart in a terrible accident which kills the father, and the mother, Corrine, is forced to resort to last measures– taking her four children and going to live with her parents. Years before, Corrine had married a man her parents, and society, strongly disapproved of which caused her parents to disinherit her. Now, she must convince her father she is once again his perfect little angel in hopes that he would write her back into his will. Since she married a man they disapproved of, allowing her father to know about her children would make it even more difficult for her to regain his love. So with the help of the grandmother, the children are hidden on the top floor, constrained to the one room and the attic. The grandmother refuses to feel anything other than hatred for the children. She repeatedly tells them that after her husband dies, things will change. But when he does die, the children don’t discover it until a year later, and things only get worse. The children have numerous rules they must follow, such as “never look at the opposite sex,” and “no girls and boys in the bathroom at the same time.” As time passed, Chris, the oldest son, and Cathy, the oldest daughter, assume the roles of the parents while the twins, Cory and Carrie, are the children. After many months of being locked in the attic, a new relationship begins to bloom, while their relationship with their mother dwindles away. At first, Corrine visited her children every night, but as the months passed, she visited more seldom. Then children make her feel guilty for not coming, so she lavishes expensive gifts on them to convince them that she still loves them. She begins to lose the motherly feeling toward her children and starts seeing them as her mother saw them, unwholesome children who don’t deserve to live. One of them doesn’t live. After the death of one of the twins, the children realize they need to get out, so they begin to concoct an escape plan. After finding a way out of the room, Chris began to steal things to sell when their escape plan succeeded. Three and a half years after the beginning of their imprisonment, they finally escape. The other books in the series, Petals on the Wind, If There be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows are also written with the same expert skill. Though the storyline is somewhat disturbing, it’s an addicting book that you won’t want to put down once you start it.