Content warning: This article discusses incest, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, child abuse, suicide, grief, and trauma. Reader discretion is advised.
Spoiler warning: If you have not read the Dollanganger books and somehow want to experience this insanity completely unprepared, turn around now. Seriously.
Back in my day, I watched the original Flowers in the Attic movie when I was pretty young. At the time, it was just a movie to me. A very weird, very disturbing movie, obviously, but still just a movie.
I had absolutely no idea it was based on a book. I DEFINITELY did not know there was an entire series.
So years later when I finally discovered the books, I went into Flowers in the Attic thinking I pretty much knew what was coming. I had seen the movie. I knew about the children being locked away. I knew about the grandmother. I knew this family was completely screwed up.
I knew nothing.
Apparently the Movie Was Protecting Me
Anybody who has seen the original movie and then read the book knows exactly what I mean. There is quite a bit that movie does not tell you.
So there I was reading Flowers in the Attic, finding out what actually happens while Chris and Cathy are growing up trapped together in that room and attic for YEARS, and my reaction was basically one long what the hell.
Obviously the Chris and Cathy part is uncomfortable. They are brother and sister. There is no version of that sentence where it suddenly becomes normal.
But in that first book, I could at least understand how these two kids ended up with completely screwed-up boundaries. They were isolated together during puberty with basically no normal life, no normal relationships and nobody around except each other and their younger siblings.
Understandable does not mean good. It does not mean healthy. It just means I could understand how V.C. Andrews got them there.
And I thought THAT was going to be the wild part of this story.
What the hell was I thinking?
Chris, Sir, We Left the Attic
Then I got to Petals on the Wind.
We are free now, Chris. We have left the attic. There are other people in the world. And this man is STILL like, “So, Cathy…” SIR.
Meanwhile Cathy is trying to build some kind of life, except Cathy’s version of building a life is also completely unhinged because apparently nobody coming out of Foxworth Hall gets to just go to therapy and move on.
She becomes a dancer. She gets involved with Julian, who is talented and charismatic and also horribly abusive. He is jealous, controlling, unfaithful, and even breaks Cathy’s toes so she cannot perform. Cathy gets pregnant with his child, Jory, and still keeps trying to make the marriage work because apparently trauma teaches you to stay way too long in situations everybody else can clearly see are terrible.
Then Julian is in a car accident, becomes paralyzed, and dies by suicide. So now Cathy has Jory, grief, anger and a whole new pile of trauma to carry around.
And because this series apparently never met a normal decision it liked, Cathy decides revenge on her mother is still very much on the schedule.
Then Cathy Seduces Her Mother’s Husband Because Of Course She Does
This part is still one of those things where you have to stop for a second and go, okay V.C. Andrews, WHAT are we doing?
Cathy hires Bart Winslow, her mother Corrine’s husband, as her lawyer. But obviously she is not just looking for legal help. She wants revenge.
So she seduces him. Her mother’s husband. And then because this family apparently needed another layer of mess, Cathy actually falls for him and gets pregnant by him.
That child is Bart Jr.
So Jory’s father was an abusive dancer who later died by suicide, and Bart Jr.’s father was Cathy’s mother’s husband, who she originally seduced as revenge and then actually developed feelings for.
Tell me again how this family tree was ever supposed to be normal.
Bart Winslow later dies in the fire at Foxworth Hall, so Cathy has now lost both of the fathers of her children under absolutely horrible circumstances.
And THEN there is Carrie.
Cathy Didn’t Just Lose Cory
Cory’s death in the attic obviously changed all of them forever, but Cathy eventually loses Carrie too.
Carrie never really escapes what happened to them. She grows up carrying the damage from the attic, the grandmother’s religious abuse, her own insecurities and Corrine rejecting her all over again.
And eventually Carrie dies by suicide too.
So when Cathy gets more obsessive, more angry and more desperate to get revenge, it is not just “Cathy is dramatic again.” This woman keeps losing people.
Cory. Julian. Carrie. Bart Winslow.
And every single loss gets stacked on top of everything that happened in that attic.
Cathy makes some truly wild decisions, but V.C. Andrews also makes sure you understand exactly how she became the person making them.
And Somehow Chris Is Still There
Through ALL of this, Chris is still waiting. That man had one plan. Cathy.
Eventually they end up together, raise Jory and Bart, and build this whole life while hiding the very small detail that they are brother and sister.
And apparently that was not enough chaos either. They adopt Cindy, the young daughter of one of Cathy’s former dance students after her mother dies. Cute, right? A little girl for Cathy to love after losing Carrie.
Except Bart Jr. immediately resents her.
And then we enter If There Be Thorns, where Bart becomes one of the most disturbing little kids I have ever read about.
Bart Is His Own Entire What-in-the-Biscuit Situation
Bart is already insecure, angry and jealous, and then Corrine moves in next door.
Yes. THAT Corrine. Grandmother is back.
And Bart starts spending time with her and John Amos while getting completely sucked into all this religious, Foxworth-family insanity.
He torments Cindy. He resents her. He becomes increasingly cruel and obsessive. And then he finds out the truth about Cathy and Chris.
Because naturally the family secret finally reaches the next generation.
Can you imagine finding out your mom and your stepdad are actually brother and sister, your biological father was your grandmother’s husband, and your grandmother once locked your mother in an attic?
I would simply walk into the ocean.
But Bart does not respond like a normal person because there are no normal people left in this family.
Then Lifetime Somehow Made It Even Wilder
And this is where I have to separate the books from the Lifetime adaptations because Lifetime made one choice that takes the insanity another step.
In the Seeds of Yesterday novel, Bart and Cindy do not end up together. Lifetime said apparently that was not messy enough.
In the movie, Bart grows up still treating Cindy terribly, still policing her relationships and still acting like he cannot stand her. Then they sleep together. Because OF COURSE THEY DO. And eventually Lifetime has them end up together.
So the boy who grew up disgusted that Cathy and Chris were brother and sister ends up with the girl who was raised as his sister.
V.C. Andrews would probably have looked at that and gone, “Okay, that tracks.”
The movie also keeps the rest of the insanity coming. Jory is paralyzed after an accident. Bart has an affair with Jory’s wife, Melodie. There are twins. More secrets. More religious obsession. More family members hurting one another while insisting they are doing what is best.
At a certain point you stop asking whether this family can get more complicated because the answer is always yes.
And Somehow I Loved Every Minute of This Mess
These books are uncomfortable. They are gross sometimes. They are completely insane sometimes.
There are relationships where you want to close the book, stare at the wall and ask yourself what in the unholy hell is WRONG with these people?
And then you pick the damn book back up.
Because V.C. Andrews knew exactly how to make something deeply uncomfortable and completely compelling at the same time. That is a very specific talent.
I do not need characters to make good choices for me to enjoy a story. Apparently sometimes I want to read about people making TERRIBLE choices and then watch those choices destroy multiple generations of their family.
Who knew?
And Yes, I Love the Lifetime Movies
I love Lifetime. I am a cheesy bitch and I accept that about myself.
And honestly? Their Dollanganger adaptations are really freaking good for Lifetime movies.
Especially after growing up with the original Flowers in the Attic movie and then finally reading the books, it was wild getting screen versions that actually went further into the story.
We got Cathy growing up. We got Jory and Bart. We got Corrine coming back. We got the next generation inheriting all the same family damage.
And Lifetime apparently looked at an already wild book series and occasionally said, “We can make this messier.” Respect.
I Thought I Knew This Story
That is probably my favorite part of this whole experience.
I started with that old movie thinking I knew Flowers in the Attic. Then I opened the book and realized the movie had barely prepared me. Then I kept reading and realized Flowers in the Attic had barely prepared me for the rest of the SERIES.
Every time I thought this family had reached maximum dysfunction, V.C. Andrews apparently took that as a personal challenge.
And I loved it. I was uncomfortable, horrified and judging practically everybody while also absolutely planning to start the next book.
That woman knew how to write a story that could make me say, “What in the unholy hell is WRONG with these people?” and “Okay, where is the next one?” almost in the same breath.
And if that is not the perfect description of the Dollanganger series, I really do not know what is.
If you or someone you know needs support:
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.
National Domestic Violence Hotline: Call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), text START to 88788, or visit thehotline.org.
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: Call 800-656-HOPE (4673), text HOPE to 64673, or visit rainn.org/hotline.
Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: Call or text 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-CHILD), text GO to that number, or visit childhelphotline.org for live chat.
