Dollanganger Books In Order

Publication Order of Dollanganger Books

The Dollanganger series is author V.C Andrews’ most popular series, particularly the ‘Flower in the attic’, the first book in the series. Following the somewhat unappreciated ‘Gods of Green Mountain’ Andrews’ first standalone novel, it was The Dollanganger series that first attracted fame to Andrews even while drawing all manner of controversy from some circles for the content portrayed within it.

The Dollanganger story follows the Foxworth children, Cory, Chris, Carrie and Cathy Dollanganger through the ordeals they encounter following a great tragedy. When their much loved father passes away, the four Dollanganger children find their sadness turned to terror in the face of cruelty.

Forced to enter Foxworth hall, they encounter Olivia Foxworth, their vile grandmother who, instead of the love and warmth of a kindly grandparent, meets them with scorn, christening them Devil’s spawn and sequestering them away to the confines of a locked room.

Within this space they discover a mysterious attic and must contend with its dark secrets alongside Olivia’s ill will, who expects them to perish within the year.

+The Dollanganger Series- The structure

Eponymously named, the Dollanganger series was published in 1979 and chronicles the story of the Dollanganger family. Initiating with the highly popular ‘Flowers in the Attic’, the series constitutes five novels, the last of which ‘Garden of Shadows’ was completed by Andrew Neiderman and published in 1986.

Following the story telling structure V.C Andrews is best known for, the first pair of novels focuses primarily upon the four Dollanganger children, named so in an attempt to separate them from their family name of Foxworth.

Following the events of ‘Petals in the Wind’, the series shifts the focus to the primary protagonist, Cathy Dollanganger’s children, Jory and Bart in the next pair of books, within a story surrounding Bart’s relationship with a new mysterious neighbor and her butler.

The last book in the series leaps back in time, shifting focus once more from the latest generation of Dollangangers to Olivia and Malcom Foxworth, grandparents to the original four Dollanganger children, as well as their parents during which a final conclusion to the story is achieved through revelations that explore the events that elicited the events of the first book in the Dollanganger series.

+The Dollanganger Series: The Author

The Dollanganger series of books are the works of one V.C. Andrews; born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Andrews was the only daughter of the family, the youngest of the Andrews children.

She spent a considerable portion of her life requiring support from crutches or a wheel chair resulting from crippling arthritis elicited by a serious fall, severe back injuries and intensive corrective surgery during her teenage years.

Andrews none the less forged forward through a career as a commercial artist and portrait painter, overcoming her physical restrictions through a four years correspondence course.

Andrews’ first book, ‘Gods of Green Mountain’ garnered little to no attention, the science fiction story only relatively recently finding an audience when it was published for the first time as an e-book in 2004.

The first in her Dollanganger series, ‘Flowers in the Attic’ was initially far from a hit among publishers and Andrews was asked to make some changes and possibly expand the series before it could finally hit the shelves.

‘Flowers in the Attic’ was an instant hit among readers, turning Andrews into an overnight success; subsequent releases in the series only garnered greater fame, the author releasing one novel each year till her death.

V.C Andrews died of breast cancer in 1986; it was as a result of the breadth of her success that the Andrews family saw it fit to hire a ghostwriter to complete the final novel in her series.

Famous for works like the movie adapted ‘The Devil’s Advocate’, Andrew Neiderman also wrote ‘Cage of Love’ and ‘The Little Psychic’ in 2001, both stories inspired by artwork V.C Andrews produced.

+The Dollanganger Series: Flower in the Attic

The first book in the Dollangager series was released in 1979. The story introduced the four Dollanganger children and the tragedy that would impel them down a difficult and dark road.

Driven by greed and the love of a fortune through which one could secure their happiness for a lifetime, Chris, Cathy and the twins find themselves at the hands of a pair of cruel women determined to conceal them from their drying father’s legacy.

Meant as little more than a temporal solution, the weeks and months turn to years; held within a helpless space, adult dreams and desires emerge in a difficult world driven by a superstition grandmother determined to eliminate the Devil’s spawn from the world of men.

‘Flowers in the Attic’ attracted considerable acclaim and interest for the vivid stories and characters it introduced, dragging many a young girl into the world of literature like few other novels of that time.

+The Dollanganger series: Petals in the Wind

The second novel in Dollanganger series returns to siblings Cathy, Chris and Carrie following the despair of their captivity; intent upon building bright futures and determined to eliminate their mother from their lives, the Dollangangers find that the memories of the past are not so easily forgotten.

Cathy cannot easily forget these wrongs, and finally armed with her mother’s power, she’s determined to make things right.

If ‘Flowers in the Attic’ was considered a masterpiece, then to most fans ‘Petals in the wind’ more or else revolutionized the first story, expanding the plot, introducing new equally intriguing characters and telling quite the twisted tell of rape, incest, dismissive mothers and evil grandparents, a story most consider worthy of a temporal end to the Cathy Dollanganger story.

+The Dollanganger Series: Movies and Film

‘Flowers in the Attic’ the first of the Dollanganger novels was adapted into a movie in January 2014, starring Heather Graham as Corinne, Kiernan Shipka as Cathy, Ellen Burstyn as the evil grandmother and Mason Dye as Chris.

The 2014 movie adaptation was a remake of the original 1987 movie; while the 1987 movie utilized the material from the novel, it took liberties with the plot, making changes to characters and outcomes.

The remake by Lifetime follows the content of the novel closely, including the incestuous elements. The movie attracted as much interest as it did controversy, many a fan showing a greater appreciation for the remake and its decision to follow the original story closely.