13 Things You Didn’t Know About VC Andrews, The Author Of ‘Flowers In The Attic’

3. Her Life Was Defined By Tragedy

One of the reasons Andrews’s books gained such popularity among teens was its simple diction: She wrote in the voice of a young girl. Ann Patty theorized that life had figuratively stopped for Andrews at a young age due to her debilitating condition.

Additionally, Patty initially “thought [Andrews] was an older Southern woman.” She recalled, “When I met her and found her to be crippled, it was like this huge shock. And then it all became clear: She was that teenager. If you think about her emotional life and her experiences and independence – which there was none – her life kind of stopped when she was about 14 or 15.”