By the end of that novel, Cathy has also begin to duplicate her mother’s choices: She begins an incestuous family with her brother, lies to her children about his identity, and finds herself installing children’s beds in her own attic. Petals on the Wind (1980) is driven by Cathy’s desire for revenge, which compels her to look and behave like Corrine in order to seduce her husband. Yet through the decades that span the novels that follow, Cathy finds herself becoming more and more like Corrine. As Cathy’s love and adoration of her mother, Corrine, turns into bitterness and anger in Flowers in the Attic, she becomes determined to get free of her family and be nothing like her mother. The novel and its sequels also recognized a deep and abiding fear that has shaped women of my generation: the fear of turning into our mothers.

Andrews’ ability to give voice to the chaotic anger of our teen lives isn’t the only reason why Flowers in the Attic resonates with us still. In large part, Flowers in the Attic drew its power because it gave voice to a visceral, adolescent feeling of being held hostage by your own family.īut V.C. Sure, those shockingly novel themes attracted readers, but the emotional payoff for teens was much deeper than the thrill of reading something taboo. It’s also, notoriously, the story of an incestuous love affair between Cathy and her older brother that culminates in sexual assault. It’s a harrowing tale of abuse and neglect that includes beatings, starvation, and poisoning. So why was Flowers in the Attic so uniquely appealing to its first teenage readers? The novel is narrated by Cathy Dollanganger, who is imprisoned with her siblings at the age of 12 and finally escapes at the age of 15.

It’s also an elusive one, and most of us have a difficult time articulating why Cathy’s story embedded itself into our imaginations, and why we’re so excited to revisit it now.

For women of my generation, Cathy Dollanganger’s story continues to possess a weird, singular power. And yet, as all the buzz about the Lifetime adaptation reveals, we are clearly not over Flowers in the Attic.

Flowers in the attic prequel book