Though the series was first published in the late 70‘s ( this book in particular in 1981), she finds a way to relate the characters to her readers, enables readers from present-day connect, and let them find some common ground with the things and situations that she writes about. As time goes on, the children begin to realize that their parents have a secret, and the woman next door slowly begins to reveal her true identity.Īlthough the basis of this story seems like a highly unlikely (bordering on impossible) story, Andrews creates a very realistic atmosphere in the small town of Fairfax, California. Posing as Jory and Bart’s step-father, Christopher continues to protect Catherine and her children, especially when an old woman, who is very interested in Bart, moves into the mansion next to their home. In If There Be Thorns, Andrews continues the tale of the two remaining Dollanganger children and the family that they have built with each other. They all suffer many losses, including that of their sister Carrie, and Catherine’s first and second husbands. Over the next years, Catherine marries twice, resulting in two children: Jory and Bart (the son of her mother’s husband), and an adopted daughter named Cindy.

After coming to many terrible realizations about their mother and grandparents, and the loss of their younger brother Cory, the children manage to escape the mansion, and the two eldest children, Chris and Catherine, strive to find happiness, while Carrie still suffers the hardships of the attic. Andrews shows through her words distinctly how painful and full of suffering their three years of confinement were.

They are promised that, once the grandfather dies, they will be allowed to come down from the attic and relish in an extravagant Foxworth life full of glory and riches.

Once there, the children are confined to the attic because of their mother’s secrecy with her dying father. In the previous novels in the series, Flowers In The Attic and Petals In The Wind, the four Dollanganger children move from their home in Greenglenna to their estranged grandparent’s mansion, Foxworth Hall, with their newly widowed mother.

If There Be Thorns was made into an exceptional novel because of Andrews’ intense and twisting plots, her imaginative and exaggerated use of language, and her outstanding sense of realism she brings to all of her works. As with the two previous novels, Andrews draws her readers in to a sense of reality with her excellent storytelling and inspiring creative skills. The third saga in a series of four, published by Vanda General Partnership, Andrews continues the dark and forbidden tale of the ‘Dollanganger’ family with incredible detail and imagery. A seemingly perfect family of four, an extremely well-guarded secret, and a long-lost, and unwanted, relative are only a few of the things that contribute to the overwhelming intensity of V.C.

Vc andrews let there be thorns