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

5. She Ignored Her Illness Until It Was Too Late

After Flowers in the Attic, virtually everything Andrews touched turned to gold. Her subsequent books were hits and she was raking in money when she discovered a lump on her breast. She decided to forgo treatment – and refused to see a doctor – in order to finish her Casteel series.

Her sister-in-law Joan Andrews thinks the decision was not a good one: “She knew she had a lump on her breast, but would not take care of the situation until she finished the current novel she was working on and also the sequel. By then the cancer had begun to spread.”