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HOPE IS SHATTERED...
La esperanza se destruye
No amount of money can keep heartbreak away: Delia Yebarra learned that painful lesson after a boating tragedy ended her fairy-tale romance with Adan Bovia, a wealthy politician's son. But when she discovers she is carrying his child, Delia has no choice but to live under the watchful eye of Adan's powerful father, who blamed Delia for the deadly accident but soon puts her health and the safe delivery of his grandchild above his resentments. Or so Delia believed.
BUT LOVE BRINGS NEW LIFE...
Pero el amor sopla una nueva vida
For Adan's father intends to use his connections to blackmail Delia. A cruel nursemaid monitors her every move. And a manipulative schemer orchestrates a reunion with Delia's cousin Edward — a visit with grave consequences. But after tiny Adan Jr. arrives, Delia is no longer fighting for herself but for everything she ever believed, back when she was a Mexican country girl. Can Delia recapture the innocence of her roots and make a bright future for her family?
Andrews's novel Flowers in the Attic launched the popular genre sometimes dubbed "children in jeopardy" -- stories about young people abused, lied to, and preyed upon by their evil guardians. The author's own childhood was not nearly so lurid, though it did have an element of tragedy: As a teenager she had a bad fall, which resulted in the development of bone spurs. A botched surgery, combined with arthritis, forced her to use a wheelchair or crutches for the rest of her life.
Andrews lived with her mother and worked as a commercial artist until the 1970s, when she began to write in earnest. Most of her early stories and novels went unpublished (one exception was "I Slept with My Uncle on My Wedding Night," which appeared in a pulp confession magazine). Finally, in 1979, Flowers in the Attic made it into print. The book soared to No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list and was followed by two equally successful sequels, Petals on the Wind and If There Be Thorns. Critics weren't always kind -- a Washington Post reviewer wrote that Flowers in the Attic "may well be the worst book I have ever read" -- but that didn't matter to millions of Andrews's readers, who devoured her gruesome fairy tales as fast as she could pen them.
As E. D. Huntley points out in V. C. Andrews: A Critical Companion, Andrews's novels fit neatly into the "female Gothic" tradition, in which an innocent young woman is trapped in an isolated mansion and persecuted by a villain. Andrews's own contribution was to take some of the themes implicit in early Gothic novels -- incest, sexual jealousy, and obsession -- and make them sensationally explicit in her works.
As most of her fans know by now, V. C. Andrews died in 1986, but new V. C. Andrews books keep popping up on the bestseller lists. That's because the Andrews estate hired a ghost writer, Andrew Neiderman, to continue writing books in the late author's style. Andrews's heirs have been cagey about just how much unfinished work she left behind when she died, but testimony during a 1993 tax case suggested that Andrews had only completed a portion of Garden of Shadows, the eighth book (out of more than 50) published under her name.
Still, even if the vast majority of "V. C. Andrews" books weren't actually written by V. C. Andrews, many of her fans are happy to have her tradition carried on. Neiderman has drawn on Andrews's novels, notebooks, and drawings for inspiration. "Don't make this sound weird," he once said in a Washington Post interview, "but sometimes I do feel possessed." To the original V. C. Andrews, who believed in precognition and reincarnation, it probably wouldn't sound weird at all.
Though V. C. Andrews went by the name Virginia, her birth name was Cleo Virginia Andrews, not Virginia Cleo Andrews. She had planned to publish her books under the name Virginia Andrews, but her first publisher printed Flowers in the Atticas the work of "V. C. Andrews" in hopes that the gender-neutral name would make the book appealing to male readers.
Drea82367
Posted March 11, 2012
Looking for a good V.C. Andrews novel to read ... is this book part of a series? If it is, what are the other books that are in the series?
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Posted February 9, 2013
Good
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted November 1, 2011
I loved all three books and would recommend them i am going to read another set of books by her, ijust need to decide what one,
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Posted March 26, 2011
loved this book. Im sad its over actually.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I liked this whole series all together. It kept me entertained and it may not be the best literature and a lil trashy at times but it was interesting all the same. A lot of parts made me angry and sad because I am a mother myself and I ask myself how could someone try and keep a mother from her baby like that?
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.DELIA'S GIFT is the final chapter in the saga of Delia Yebarra.
The start of the story finds Delia moving into Adan's home to live with his father until the birth of her child. With Adan gone, Delia's child has brought new hope to Senor Bovio.
Delia is ensconced in the plush room that had belonged to Adan's mother. The room has been untouched since she left. Senor Bovio goes to extreme measures to ensure the health of the baby. He commissions new clothing and shoes for Delia and insists that new pieces are made on a regular basis. He has the doctor come to the house to exam her. And he's hired a nutritionist, Mrs. Newell, to monitor Delia's diet, exercise, and virtually every waking minute.
As the pregnancy progresses, Delia tries to rekindle her relationship with her cousin, Edward. She tries to reach out to her lost love, Ignacio. She meets up with her old friend, Fani, and she struggles with her unease around Mrs. Newell.
But with everything in Delia's life, even her pregnancy and the birth has its problems and more drama ensues. Delia tries to gain control over her situation and her baby, but it may take help from the family that has disowned her.
DELIA'S GIFT is a fitting end to the trilogy. There's the right amount of tension and the logical resolution by the final page. The story was a satisfying read for any fan of the V.C. Andrews legacy.
mhaughie
Posted May 18, 2009
I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book! I just had to know what would happen to everyone. Delia had such horrible bad luck through the other two books and I was hoping she would triumph in the end. Bravo!!!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.liza1026
Posted April 20, 2009
I LOVED THE DELIA's SERIES. I feel like another book should continue this one. I finished it in a day and was left wanting more.
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Posted July 22, 2011
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Overview
HOPE IS SHATTERED...
La esperanza se destruye
No amount of money can keep heartbreak away: Delia Yebarra learned that painful lesson after a boating tragedy ended her fairy-tale romance with Adan Bovia, a wealthy politician's son. But when she discovers she is carrying his child, Delia has no choice but to live under the watchful eye of Adan's powerful father, who blamed ...