I was looking so forward to learning more about the family history, and while there is a fantastic secret revealed, a good portion of the book didn't ring true somehow. I know this was the last the original author started writing, and then was picked up by someone else. I wish I knew how much was written by the original V.C. Andrews. ( )

Mucho antes de que el terror se apoderara de su familia, Olivia, recién casada con Malcolm Foxworth, llegó a Virginia llena de esperanza e ilusión. Esperaba hallar la felicidad junto a su atractivo marido. Sin embargo, la siniestra y laberíntica mansión Foxworth Hall parece albergar algo maligno que poco a poco se adueña de Olivia. Día tras día aumenta la obsesión por sus hijos, sobre todo por Corinne, una hermosa muchacha con un encanto especial. Jardín sombrío revela los terribles acontecimientos que marcarán para siempre el destino de la familia Dollanganger.

3 1/2 stars...The prequel to the series written by V.C. Andrews successor. ( )

This book is the last in the Dollanganger series, but is the prequel to Flowers In The Attic. In it, we meet the young, handsome Malcolm Foxworth, who started it all. After taking Olivia for his wife, they retire to Foxworth Hall to raise a family, but darkness soon descends. Malcolm's father, Garland, returns with his new bride, Alicia, who is—of course—young, beautiful, and pregnant. Olivia has two sons, Malcolm and Joel, and Alicia soon produces a son named Christopher. Now the shenanigans begin. Lust and incest prevail—as it must with this bunch—and Alicia soon has a daughter in secret, fathered by her step-son, Malcolm. Alicia and her son, Christopher, move on, leaving her daughter, Corinne, behind. But is that the end of it? Oh, no. Now grown, Christopher—Alicia and Garland's son—returns and sweeps Malcolm's cherished daughter, Corinne, off her feet, starting the whole cycle over again (since they are half-siblings). But you really can't blame Corinne for falling in love with her half-brother since she only thinks Christopher is her uncle. (Are you keeping up?) What is it with these rich, coddled people? Oh, that's right...they're inbred. After these two young lovers are disinherited and banned from Foxworth Hall, they marry and raise four children—Christopher, Cathy, Cory, and Carrie. At the same time, Malcolm and Olivia grow old and bitter. Years later, after Malcolm suffers a stroke, Corinne, now a widow, returns to Foxworth Hall with her four children conceived with her half-brother, and the legacy of Flowers In The Attic is born. Gothic horror doesn't get much creepier than this. ( )

Pátý a poslední svazek rozsáhlé ságy Virginie Cleo Andrews jako by svým návratem ke kořenům prokletí rodu Foxworthů uzavíral kruh. Očima babičky Olivie vrací autorka děj až do jejího mládí, do doby, kdy se jako mladá dívka plná ideálů poprvé setká se ctižádostivým Malcolmem. (Založil/a: Ivanka67)