Flowers of the night (novel)
Flowers in the Attic (ger .: Flowers in the Attic ) is a novel by US author VC Andrews from to 1979.
action
The story takes place in the United States in the 1950s: Corinne Foxworth falls in love with her young uncle Christopher, who is accepted into the Foxworth's house, although he was cheated of his inheritance at a young age. Corinne and Christopher get married and use the name Dollanganger to cover up their common origins, which is why she is cast out and disinherited by her rich father. Corinne is ready to forego her fortune out of love for Christopher, but it is difficult for her to live without luxury. The harmonious marriage with Christopher has four children. When Christopher dies in an accident on his birthday, Corinne feels compelled to return to her parents' spacious estate, as she has never learned to care for herself and is overwhelmed with this task. With this move, Corinne wants to win back the favor and trust of her seriously ill father so that he can use her as sole heir again. For this, however, he is not allowed to know anything about the existence of the four children, so that they are quartered in the attic of the house and are not allowed to leave it. The devout grandmother of the children provides them with the bare essentials, but also shows them her total dislike and does not shy away from being hit with a whip, since they only blame the children for the product of an unfortunate, sinful oneIncest connection sees.
Little by little, the children begin to adapt to their new life, which only takes place in one room and the large attic. Because the two young twins miss the green of the meadows and a garden, the four siblings are preparing the attic as a garden with self-made artificial flowers and try to make their ordeal more bearable. The mother's regular visits at the beginning become less and less frequent over the months and the relationship between the two older siblings Cathy and Chris begins to deepen. At first loving and trusting their mother, the children began to have doubts about Corinne's motives as the days of imprisonment in the attic turn into weeks, months, and even years. The two older children Cathy and Chris take care of the five-year-old Cory and Carrie and gradually take the place of their parents. As Chris and Cathy get older, they discover sexual feelings for each other, which they try to suppress, as they soon find out that their parents were related and they do not want to repeat this mistake in order not to be the "brood of Satan" that their grandmother gave them assumed.
After Chris succeeds in recreating a key, Chris and Cathy take the first walks through the house to organize money for an escape. Meanwhile, her mother informs her that she has married her suitor, Foxworth family lawyer, Bart Winslow. When they have managed to escape, Cory falls seriously ill. At the urging of Cathy and the consent of his grandmother, Corinne takes him to take him to the hospital. The next day, the mother informs the other children that her brother has died of pneumonia .
The two siblings plan to flee again so as not to endanger the remaining sister, as their condition worsens a little more every day. On the day of the escape, Chris overhears a conversation between the servants and learns that her grandfather died a year earlier and that their mother lied to them the whole time. In addition, the suspicion grows that they could have mixed poison in their food and thus caused the death of Cory. To confirm this suspicion, they feed Cory's pet, the tame house mouse Mickey, one of the pastries that they get as dessert in their daily food ration. The mouse dies shortly after being eaten. Chris and Cathy decide to pack the mouse and baked goods in a bag as evidence.
Cathy and Chris find out that the mother's inheritance can also be withdrawn retrospectively if it turns out that their first marriage did result in children. They realize that their brother was poisoned and that the same fate is destined for them. You decide to leave the house and Carrie escapes. At a train station, Cathy throws away the bag of evidence as she sees no room for revenge in her heart and wants to finish with the story.
background
Written in the first person perspective of Cathy Dollanganger, the novel has sold over 40 million copies worldwide. It resulted in four sequels and so far two films.
The themed incest between two adolescents was received controversially by the critics. Some schools and libraries in the United States did not accept the novel or removed it after protests.
Sequels
There were four sequels to the novel, collectively known as the Foxworth saga :
- 1980: Petals on the Wind
- 1981: If There Be Thorns
- 1984: Seeds of Yesterday
- 1986: Garden of Shadows
Film adaptations
In 1987 the thriller Flowers of the Night appeared , which deviates in numerous details from the novel. In particular, the taboo areas incest and sadomasochism are left out. In addition, the mother dies at the end of the film when the children are able to break free from their hiding place during their wedding to Bart Winslow.
The television film Flowers in the Attic from 2014, in which the incestuous relationship between Cathy and Christopher jr. is indicated.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Film description with film review on ( Memento of the original from August 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. die-besten-horrorfilme.de
