If you borrow a V.C. Andrews book from a library, the librarian will most likely tell you that it won’t be your last Andrews book. V.C. Andrews’s writing has a way of capturing readers, and if you’ve recently read one of her works, you’re probably wondering what else she has written.
Fortunately for you, the pioneer female author penned over a hundred book series before she passed away. In this post, you will find all of V.C. Andrews’ books listed in order of publication, categorized by series.
You will also learn more about V.C. Andrews, the person behind the books that are impossible to put down.
Table Of Contents show
Our best V.C. Andrews Books at a glance:
- Flowers in the Attic (1979)
- Heaven (1985)
- Pearl in the Mist (1994)
- Petals on the Wind (1980)
- Garden of Shadows (1987)
- My Sweet Audrina (1982)
- Seeds of Yesterday (1984)
- Dawn (1990)
- If There Be Thorns (1981)
V.C. Andrews: The Maestro Of The Domestic Taboo Thriller
V.C. Andrews was born Cleo Virginia Andrews in Portsmouth, Virginia, on June 6, 1923. She was one of the most prolific female fiction writers of her time and has a vast bibliography, the books of which are still in circulation.
She was the youngest child of her parents, William Henry Andrews and Lilian Lilnora. Her fiction work often revolves around the role of a daughter and the expectations associated with it. One reason could be that she felt an exaggerated sense of what it meant to be a daughter, being the only sister among her siblings.
She grew up religious, which later informed the taboo-driven obstacles in most of her forbidden love narratives. She attended Southern Baptist and Methodist churches growing up and continued to be a regular churchgoer well into her teens.
During this time, she fell from a school stairwell, which resulted in serious back injuries followed by a painful surgery. Ultimately, Andrews would end up with arthritis that would confine her to a wheelchair for most of her life.
Andrews didn’t let the physical limitation become a mental limitation. Showing resilience with her interest in the arts, Andrews pursued and completed her 4-year correspondence course remotely.
After that, she started a commercial art practice as an illustrator, portrait painter, and commission-based art creator. It started as a serious passion project until she had to do it for money after the death of her father in 1957.
Desperate for an outlet to create for the sake of creating, Andrews turned to writing. Starting with short stories, she found herself absorbed in the world of her creation. She expanded one of her stories and turned it into a full-fledged novel.
It was a science fiction book titled Gods of Green Mountain. This book would remain unpublished until 2004 when it was posthumously published as an ebook. The fact that her first book went unpublished is quite significant because her first published title set the pace for the rest of her writing career.
Her first novel to make it to print was Flowers In The Attic, which she finished in two weeks and revised in a single night after being asked to “spice things up.” When it was published in 1979, it became an instant success, steadily climbing the bestseller ranks and peaking in two weeks.
This market feedback was what Andrews and her publishers needed. From that point onward, Andrews turned out a book each year until her death. The graph of her book sales kept rising with each subsequent publication, which used to be the norm for writers before electronic discovery produced one-hit wonders in the literary world.
She is one of the earliest authors to have adopted the “page-turner” objective for pacing, which eventually became the mark of a thriller.
But in Andrews’s days, page-turner dramas weren’t all that common. But she confessed to creating plot bait and giving dramatic descriptions to keep the reader engaged. To Andrews, success wasn’t getting someone to buy her books. It was to get them to finish her books.
Despite becoming one of the greatest commercial success stories in the history of female fiction writing and paving the way for the likes of Karin Slaughter and Victoria Brooks, Andrews was never really accepted by the critics. In turn, she dismissed them as jealous would-be authors who never made it.
Andrews got her flowers from critics, unfortunately, after she passed away on December 19, 1986. She died of breast cancer and left behind two almost-complete books, which were finished by a family-hired ghostwriter.
V.C. Andrews Books In Order
The Dollanganger Family Books In Order
- Flowers in the Attic (1979)
- Petals on the Wind (1980)
- If There Be Thorns (1981)
- Seeds of Yesterday (1984)
- Garden of Shadows (1987) (with Andrew Neiderman)
The Casteel Family Books In Order
- Heaven (1985)
- Dark Angel (1986)
- Fallen Hearts (1988) (with Andrew Neiderman)
Credited to V.C. Andrews
The Cutler Family Books In Order
- Dawn (1990)
- Secrets of the Morning (1991)
- Twilight’s Child (1992)
- Midnight Whispers (1992)
- Darkest Hour (1993)
The Landry Family Books In Order
The Logan Family Books In Order
The Orphans MiniBooks In Order
The Wildflowers MiniBooks In Order
The Hudson Family Books In Order
The Shooting Stars Books In Order
The De Beers Family Books In Order
The Broken Wings Books In Order
The Gemini Books In Order
The Shadows Books In Order
The Early Spring Books In Order
The Secrets Books In Order
The Delia Books In Order
The Heavenstone Books In Order
The Kindred Books In Order
The March Family Books In Order
The Forbidden Books In Order
The Diary Books In Order
- Christopher’s Diary: Secrets of Foxworth (2014)
- Christopher’s Diary: Echoes of Dollanganger (2015)
- Secret Brother (2015)
The Mirror Sisters Books In Order
The Girls of Spindrift Books In Order
The House of Secrets Books In Order
The Attic Books In Order
The Umbrella Books In Order
The Eden Books In Order
Other Books In Order
Continued Posthumously
The Best V.C. Andrews Books To Read
Flowers in the Attic (1979)
If you want to get into V.C. Andrews’s bibliography, Flowers In The Attic is one of the first books you should read. It kicks off the Dollanganger saga with the death of the main protagonist’s father. The two children are told by their mother to stay in their grandmother’s attic as she tries to get a piece of the inheritance left by their father. Abandonment, torture, and incest follow.
Heaven (1985)
Heaven is a less incestuous book from the V.C. Andrews bibliography, which has an abundance of taboo topics. This particular title follows a girl named Heaven, whose mother died giving birth to her.
She learns of this fact when she is woken up and told about it on a random day. Her grandmother takes her to her mother’s grave and sends her on her way to find her true family. What she finds is poverty, contempt, and, eventually, hope.
Pearl in the Mist (1994)
Pearl In The Mist follows Ruby and her sister as they are sent to boarding school. It is the second in the Landry Series.
Whereas the first has Ruby finding comfort in her father’s wealth, the second continues the story with Ruby eluding lasting happiness. She eventually has an adventure she didn’t sign up for and a dramatic conclusion to it in the middle of a hurricane.
Petals on the Wind (1980)
Petals on the Wind is the second entry in the Dollanganger Series and picks up after the events of Flowers In The Attic. It is best not to read it if you have not read Flowers In The Attic and plan to do so. If you don’t plan to read it at all, then you might as well read this book, as it is a good standalone read.
Garden of Shadows (1987)
This book was finished by a ghostwriter hired by V.C. Andrews’s family after she died. It is the final entry in the series launched with “Flowers in the Attic.” It is worth reading to get a conclusion that, despite being bleak, is quite satisfactory.
My Sweet Audrina (1982)
If you think that a parent’s compassion is inherently positive, wait till you read My Sweet Audrina. It is a tragic story with elements of horror that will send chills down your spine while tugging at your heartstrings in some instances.
Seeds of Yesterday (1984)
This book is part future fiction and part classic V.C. Andrews. It extends the Dollanganger trilogy and follows Cathy from the age of 52 to her death. The book was published in the 80s, and the character was young in previous entries, so her future had to be set in the real world. The events of the book take place in the late 90s, over a decade in the future.
Dawn (1990)
V.C. Andrews died before Dawn was finished. It is one of the few books that was concluded with the help of Andrew Neiderman. Dawn is the debut entry in the Cutler Series and follows a 14-year-old girl named Dawn Longchamp, who has typical teenage problems but with a twist that involves kidnapping and forbidden love.
If There Be Thorns (1981)
This book follows two brothers and features themes of sibling rivalry, parental expectations, and the pain of self-assigned inferiority. It is from the Dollanganger Series, so reading the previous books adds depth to this entry, but it is a great standalone read as well.
V.C. Andrews FAQs
What Happened To V.C. Andrews?
V.C. Andrews died of breast cancer on December 19, 1986. Because of her huge body of work and its relative relevance to recent turmoil and the cultural alienation of certain values, V.C. Andrews is assumed to be alive by new readers.
What Kind Of Books Did V.C. Andrews Write?
V.C. Andrews wrote books that featured taboo horror, romance, and drama in a family context. Her books are described as gothic horror by some and taboo romance by others.
Overall, her books fall into the category of horror and family drama, though both of those descriptions would be unfair to the nuance and visceral reach of the V.C. Andrews bibliography.
What Is V.C. Andrews Known For?
V.C. Andrews is known for being one of the earliest female writers to write about incest. Her Dollanganger Trilogy is the most popular one in her bibliography, and it chronicles the story of children born out of incest and locked up by their sad*stic grandmother.
It resonated with teens at the time because of the shared feeling of being stifled and limited by the adults in the family. Even to this day, young readers relate to these books, and some consider the author to be alive because the books sound recent.
How Many Books Did V.C. Andrews Sell?
V.C. Andrews’s books have sold over 105 million copies, 45 million short of the most ever sold by a contemporary of hers. This is quite an achievement for the type of books she wrote. After all, books featuring incest and rape themes aren’t mainstream material.
It would be unfair to just mention Andrews’s book sales alone because her work paved the way for future female authors to write about taboo subjects. There would be no Fifty Shades of Grey without Flowers In The Attic.
How Many Books Did V.C. Andrews Write?
V.C. Andrews wrote nine books in different series and one standalone book. In each series, a different family story is explored.
Some elements are repetitive in her expanded bibliography, but that was penned mostly with the assistance of a ghostwriter. In total, there are 103 books with her name.
Did V.C. Andrews Write Fallen Hearts?
V.C. Andrews wrote most of the Fallen Hearts book, but because she passed away, the book was finished by ghostwriter Andrew Neiderman, who was hired by Andrews’s family.
Wrapping It Up
V.C. Andrews was a trailblazer in women’s fiction around taboo subjects. She was brave in her life and responsible throughout her career for quite a large family. While embodying perfect ideals, she wrote about imperfect characters and horrific family conditions.
She passed away after a battle with breast cancer, leaving behind a large bibliography that still captures the attention and the imagination of millions of readers around the world.
