Summary
From New York Times bestselling author and literary phenomenon V. C. Andrews ( Flowers in the Attic , My Sweet Audrina ) comes a gripping and suspenseful psychological thriller about a stalker hell-bent on destroying a young woman's life.
Pru Dunning has everything she ever wanted: a successful boyfriend, a thriving nursing career, and a truly comfortable life. But then the strange voicemails start.
Scarletta, the woman calls herself. She seems to know Pru, although Pru certainly doesn't know that name, nor does she recognize the glamorous voice leaving her poisonous messages.
Is this the work of jealous revenge from someone at work? An old enemy she has forgotten about? Pru begins to investigate, but carefully-if anyone found out about these lewd, threatening messages, filled with details that no stranger could possibly know, they might suspect that she is something other than an innocent victim. But when she suddenly becomes a person of interest in a murder case, it feels like Scarletta's toxic voice, lashing out from the shadows, will silence all beauty in Pru's perfect life, once and for all.
Born on June 6, 1924 in Portsmouth, Va., Virginia Cleo ("V. C.") Andrews was one of three children of William Henry and Lillian Lilnora. Andrews worked as a commercial fashion and portrait artist for a time. However, after her father's death in the late 1960s and the family's subsequent move to Manchester, Mo, she began what she described as "closet" writing. It was her publisher's decision to use the initials V. C. rather than her full name. This was done for the purpose of neutralizing her gender so as to sell to adult male audiences; the common belief was that men did not like to read books by women writers.
Andrews eventually became a full-time writer. Her first novel was a science fiction fantasy entitled The Gods of the Green Mountains, published in 1972. In 1980, she published the bestseller Flowers in the Attic, followed by Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows; all of which comprise the Dollanganger Series.
Andrews died of breast cancer on December 19, 1986, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. After her death, her family hired a ghost writer, Andrew Neiderman, to finish the manuscripts she had started. He would complete the next two novels, Garden of Shadows and Fallen Hearts, and they were published soon after. These two novels are considered the last to bear the "V. C. Andrews" name and to be almost completely written by Andrews herself. She left a legacy of books that have been sold worldwide and translated into 13 foreign languages.
(Bowker Author Biography)