The Unwelcomed Child

V C Andrews

V.C. Andrews (also know as Virginia Andrews) is the pseudonym used by ghost writer Andrew Neiderman.

One of the most popular authors of all time, V.C. Andrews has been a bestselling phenomenon since the publication of her spellbinding classic Flowers in the Attic. That blockbuster novel began her renowned Dollanganger family saga, which includes Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows. Since then, readers have been captivated by more than fifty novels in V.C. Andrews' bestselling series. V.C. Andrews' novels have sold more than one hundred million copies and have been translated into sixteen foreign languages.

After her death, 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.