“I will probably be clutching Flowers in the Attic…on my deathbed.” –Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl Forbidden passions have shaped and haunted the Dollanganger family since their first novel–Flowers in the Attic–debuted forty years ago. Now discover how twisted the roots of the family tree truly are, and witness the family’s origins as the result of one … witness the family’s origins as the result of one wild and complicated relationship. In this evocative and thrilling tale from New York Times bestselling author V.C. Andrews, see Corrine Dixon as a young girl and discover the fascinating family history of the Dollanganger clan.
Two generations before Corinne Foxworth locked her children in an attic, her grandmother, a gorgeous young girl named Corrine Dixon, is swept away by the charms of rich, sophisticated, and handsome Garland Foxworth. After discovering that Corrine is pregnant, Garland does what appears to be the honorable thing and marries her in a huge ceremony on the luxurious Foxworth Hall grounds. Both families fervently overlook the pregnancy, happy for a suitable resolution.
Now the mistress of a labyrinthine estate, Corrine discovers that nothing is what is seems. Garland is not the man once captivated by her charms, and she’s increasingly troubled by his infatuation with memories of his departed mother.
Can Corrine survive this strange new life? Or is her fate already sealed?
Explore the origins of the legendary Dollanganger family in this page-turning, gripping gothic thriller.
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It’s been thirty-two years since I first ‘met’ the Foxworth family. For me, the most mysterious member of the family was the first Corrine (whose namesake did terrible things for the sake of the family fortune). Very little was said about her, and what information readers do have came from a character whose knowledge may not be wholly accurate. This novel presented an opportunity to (finally) know who she was, and I was unable to resist it. Despite being disappointed by a previous title, I was cautiously optimistic about this novel.
I was excited to read about the enigmatic Corrine and young Garland. My need to know more demanded it, and for that reason I’m glad to have read this book. Unfortunately, Beneath the Attic is plagued with problems that left me feeling frustrated.
The blurb states that Corrine and Garland get married, but the book ends before the marriage takes place. It’s an understatement to say I was perplexed that they were still in preparation mode for the wedding when the book ended. No indication is given that this is the first in a series of books, so it felt like the book ended abruptly. I’m sure the final version of the book will inform readers that it’s part of a series, but it should have been made clear to early reviewers, as well.
This most maddening, shove-you-right-out-of-the-story problem came when Corrine thinks to herself that she is just as spoiled as Scarlett O’Hara. Gone with the Wind was published in 1936—but this book is set in 1890! If I had been reading a physical book, I would have thrown it across the room. I had to stop reading, and spent the next ten minutes ranting about stupid it was, and seriously considered DNF’ing the book right then and there. How is it possible to make such a ridiculous error?! Google it, for goodness’ sake!
Another issue I had is that this doesn’t always read like a book set in the late nineteenth century. If you removed all mention of carriages and clothing, it would easily seem to be set in a more modern era. Characters don’t address one another or use etiquette consistent with the time period, which is glaringly obvious to anyone who reads historical fiction regularly.
When reading a book that tells the backstory of a maligned character such as Corrine, they are usually portrayed in a favorable light. The youthful version of them is drastically different from the person they became, and the reader can find themselves feeling unexpected sympathy for the character in question. (The young Olivia Foxworth in Garden of Shadows is an excellent example of this.) Corrine, however, is arrogant, spoiled, and selfish—unlikable from the start. It falls in line with how Malcolm (her son) will eventually describe her, and it was not at all what I expected or hoped.
Garland was an imitation of Malcolm, minus the religious fanaticism. Characters in these books are always shown to go through dramatic change, but Garland’s character felt completely wrong. He was a nice person in Shadows, but in this book he was a complete jerk. For both main characters to be this unlikable seems a poor choice., and I’m hoping one of them will be redeemed at some point in the series.
Final Thoughts
Despite serious issues I had with certain aspects of the story, I still want to know what happens next. I’d like to see better historical research done (no more references nearly 50 years too early!), with characters behaving in historically-consistent ways regarding their speech, manners, and behaviors.
I’ve decided to give this book a two star rating, though I was tempted to drop it down to one star due to historical inaccuracies. Being curious about what happens next convinced me to bump it up to two stars.
I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Gallery Books via Netgalley.
This story is just as secretive and intriguing as the original books in this series!
Corrine Dixon (the original Corinne), is a young, conceited girl who uses her beauty to her advantage. With her friends, her family and even when she meets Garland Foxworth.
What a mystery Garland is! I have been creeped out by that family since Flowers in the Attic…and this just perpetuates it. How deep do the secrets go?
This first novel in the new trilogy, the beginning of the wicked web surrounds the Foxworth family tree. I know I am going to be waiting for the next installment on tenterhooks!
Beneath the Attic by V.C.Andrews
Ok, I read my first V.C.Andrews when I was a young impressionable girl and I have read if not devoured all of her books over the decades since I read Flowers in The Attic so I pretty much know and love all her books! It is obvious that this was written by a ghost writer as V.C. Andrews passed many years ago, that being said I was still so excited to read this prequel to Flowers in the Attic that I read this in 2 days and I am definitely interested and waiting for the follow-up to this one. I am happy to have finally starting to learn what made Corrine they way she became in the later books and what drove her there. Thank you Netgalley and the Publishers for allowing me to read this ARC book and give my opinion!
Love this series and this one was a great part of it! Andrews has a wild mind creating these books! Loved this!! Grateful to the publisher, writer and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I love the additional v.c. Andrew’s Dollenganger series. Beneath The Attic was so good l couldn’t put it down
Book review live on Booktrib.com!
https://booktrib.com/2019/09/return-to-the-attic-one-more-time-in-v-c-andrews-beneath-the-attic/
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Erica –
To be honest, those in my age group and older, we’re all reading these novels from a nostalgic standpoint, where all will be biased, either upset because the books aren’t the same/can’t be the same, or those like me, who are just happy that the legacy lives on.
While there is no doubt controversy over how these novels are listed as written by VC Andrews yet written by a ghost writer, Andrew Neiderman, I tend to see VC Andrews more as an entity than the writer herself. Many of today’s bestsellers are written by ghost writers for well-known authors, with not many readers in the know of this practice. There is no bait and switch in the case of these novels, as it is common knowledge there has been the same ghost writer since I began reading as an adolescent, as our beloved VC Andrews is no longer with us.
With all that being said, I decided to rate this novel by whether or not the Gothic, dark and twisted vibe felt of similar vein of Ms. Andrews. Obviously, no two writers’ voices can ever be the same, but I do feel Andrew Neiderman is doing an admirable job with the legacy passed on. Ms. Andrews’ shoes were impossible to fill, so I appreciate novels of a similar vibe, instead of allowing the legacy to stop with her passing.
The Flowers in the Attic series was the first adult series I read when I was only 10 years old. It wasn’t my favorite, as that will forever belong to My Sweet Audrina, with Heaven as a runner-up. Dawn is definitely holding strong in the #3 spot.
In Flowers in the Attic, we saw Corrine’s actions through her daughter, Cathy. Corrine was most certainly the antagonist of the Flowers in the Attic series – flighty, careless, and cruel. Materialistic. Self-serving. I’d always wondered what made a woman become the mother who essentially locked her children in an attic and pretended they ceased to exist, all to gain access to her inheritance. But was Corrine the first to go to such lengths?
Beneath the Attic features the original Corrine – Corrine’s grandmother and namesake, the children’s great-grandmother. A torturous look at how a confident, sixteen-year-old is reduced and broken down due to the circumstances of her life. Showcasing how the darkness at Foxworth hall didn’t begin with the children in the attic.
Foxworth Hall came to life in its Gothic, sinister splendor, closets filled with skeletons and twisted secrets hidden in every corner. While the writing may not be the same voice as originally written by VC Andrews herself, the vibe felt the same.
Reading Beneath the Attic would give a new perspective to rereading the Flowers in the Attic series. While I try to not give spoilers away, by avoiding the plot itself, I will say there were a few passages that were difficult to read, on the darker side. Added in with the historical time period in the late 1800s, women’s rights weren’t even on the horizon, which made it difficult to swallow some of the events that occurred, while most likely an accurate depiction.
With an easy to breeze through plot, the emotions weren’t as deep as I wished they would have been, especially with the darker content, needing more emotional exploration for character development, but it did lend to a faster pace.
As I said, I’m in the biased camp, because I was thrilled simply to revisit a series from my childhood, seeking that sense of nostalgia, where I would have been happy with anything, no matter what I received. In this case, I will admit that I was pleased with the insight into Corrine’s character, adding another layer to events that happened during the next generations.
Reviewers received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.