About
While her first book would remain unpublished until it was released posthumously in 2004 straight to e-book; her next attempt, which she reportedly banged out in just two weeks, would be the book that would launch her into the zeitgeist: a novel titled Flowers in the Attic. The novel was bout a group of children imprisoned in an attic for most of their childhood by their mother and grandmother and was the first representation of the genre most of her future novels would fit into. She mainly wrote stories that combined elements of Gothic horror with sagas of troubled families. Flowers in the Attic was published in 1979 and reached the top of bestseller lists before a month had passed.
Before Fame
Born Cleo Virginia, her pen name would be C.V. Andrews. In high school, she had an accident involving stairs that would cause severe injuries to her back that despite attempts at corrective surgeries would cause her to suffer from chronic arthritis for the rest of her life. She required crutches or a wheelchair to remain mobile throughout the years. She completed a correspondence course in illustration that would support her family financially after the death of her father in 1957 until she pivoted to writing in her 50s. She passed away from complications of breast cancer in 1986 at the age of 63.
Trivia
Her series of novels were so popular that after her death, her estate hired a posthumous ghostwriter Andrew Neiderman to finish two manuscripts on the behalf that were published under her name. He would continue to underwrite new stories and series spin-offs based on her works, still under her name, with another release set for October 2022 called Eden's Children and another for 2023 called Little Paula. Her novels have been translated into over 15 languages.
Family Life
She was born into a middle-class family: her mother was a telephone operator and her father was a trades craftsman in the skill of tool-and-die making. She was the youngest of three with two older brothers.
Associated With
She would make an uncredited cameo appearance as a maid in the 1987 film adaptation of her novel Flowers in the Attic which starred Louise Fletcher, Victoria Tennant, and Kristy Swanson.
