If There Be Thorns

Virginia Andrews

To see titles attributed to Virginia Andrews written by V.C. Andrews (ghost writer Andrew Neiderman) CLICK HERE

Virginia Andrews, who lived in Norfolk, Virginia, studied art at college and during the sixties worked as a fashion illustrator, commercial artist, and later a portrait painter.

Her first novel, Flowers in the Attic, was based on a true story and became an immediate bestseller on publication in 1979, receiving tremendous acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic and being adapted for the big screen. It was followed by more books about the Dollanganger family, Petals on the Wind, If There be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and a prequel to Flowers in the Attic, Garden of Shadows. In addition to these novels, she is also the author of My Sweet Audrina and the Casteel family saga: Heaven, Dark Angel, Fallen Hearts, Gates of Paradise and Web of Dreams, all set in Virginia Andrews' home country, West Virginia, and in Boston.

Virginia Andrews died in 1986, and left a considerable amount of unpublished material. A public letter written by the Andrews family (printed in the front of the novels, beginning with Dawn) revealed that the family was "working closely with a carefully selected writer" to continue publishing books under the V.C. Andrews name. Now, a shorter statement is included on the copyright page of each new novel. It currently reads:

"Following the death of Virginia Andrews, the Andrews family worked with a carefully selected writer to organize and complete Virginia Andrews's stories and to create additional novels, of which this is one, inspired by her storytelling genius."

The identity of this "ghostwriter" was kept a secret from the general public for years, but it's hard to hold on to a secret that big. The ghostwriter has since been identified as horror novelist Andrew Neiderman. Beginning with the completion of Garden of Shadows and the later novels of the Casteel series, Neiderman worked hard to carry the torch that Virginia left burning bright, to satisfy her fiercely devoted readers.