Secret Brother
The Dollanganger Family Series
by V.C. Andrews
Publisher: Pocket Books
Pub. Date: May 26th, 2015
ISBN: 978-1476792408
Pages: 384
Buy Link: Amazon
Review:
In 1979, the Gothic novel
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews was
published, causing a slue of backlash from libraries, schools and
parents. Despite the taboo incest theme, the story about a four
siblings being locked in a bedroom & attic by their mother and
grandmother became a worldwide sensation. Three sequels (
Petals on
the Wind,
If There Be Thorns &
Seeds of Yesterday) were later
published. Sadly, V.C. Andrews passed away before she could finished
the prequel novel
Garden of Shadows, but the publishers and Andrews'
family picked Andrew Neiderman to ghostwrite the novel, as well as
every V.C. Andrews title since then.
Fans thought the series had ended with
Garden of Shadows until the
semi-sequel
Christopher's Diary: Secrets of Foxworth was released
last fall and quickly followed by
Christopher's Diary: Echoes of Dollanganger, in which a long-distant cousin stumbles upon the
diary of Christopher Dollanganger.
Arriving on in bookstores next week is the direct sequel to
Flowers in the Attic (or a side-prequel to the
Christopher's Diary
duo). The novel begins in late October 1960 and centers on sixteen-year-old Clara Sue Sanders, whom, along with her little brother,
Willie, has been living with their Grandpa Arnold every since their parents
died in a tragic accident. One afternoon, Clara Sue is startled by
the commotion outside - a drunk driver had hit her brother and his
nanny, Myra. While the paramedics did everything they could, Willie
was gone before the ambulance arrived at the hospital.
Grief-stricken, Clara Sue must stay in the waiting room by her
grandfather's side while the doctors work on Myra. This is when they
learn that young boy had been dropped off at the and left at the hosptial by a
stranger. The boy is undernourished and had been poisoned with arsenic.
(Sounds familiar, doesn't it?)
Before funeral plans for Willie are even made, Grandpa Arnold is
determined to find out whom this little boy is. Due to the arsenic,
the boy has neurological damage as well as the loss of motor skills;
leaving him unable to communicate and walk. Grandpa Arnold hires a
detective to find out who dropped the the boy off, but he finds
nothing.