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Growing up in her beloved swamp, Gabriel is supremely happy, despite the ever-widening rift between her Mama and her conniving, whiskey-drinking Daddy. Her classmates tease her, calling her "La Femme Au Naturel," the Nature Girl, because she seems more interested in poling her pirogue through the canals than she is in romance. But Gabriel nurtures her own secret dreams. Then, days before her high school graduation, rich cannery owner Octavious Tate surprises her in a secluded pond and shatters her innocence.
Pregnant and desolate, wishing to spare her dear Mama the scandal, Gabriel agrees to a shocking plan that will allow Octavious's frigid wife Gladys to claim the baby as her own and will net Gabriel's furious Daddy a huge payoff. Hiding in a tiny abandoned playroom in the Tate mansion, Gabriel is miserable. Her only visitor is Mama, whose mission as a Traiteur, a Cajun healer, gives her an excuse to treat Gladys Tate's "pregnancy." But nothing is more wrenching than the moment Gladys takes baby Paul away forever.
Returning home to the swamp, Gabriel drifts in a world of twilight gloom, brightened only by chance glimpses of her son. But as Jack Landry's reputation as a swamp guide grows, a hunting party brings handsome, gentle Creole millionaire Pierre Dumas to the bayou. Falling desperately in love, Gabriel will not heed the voice warning that their joy may bring her more grief than she can bear....
Here is the eagerly awaited prequel to the captivating Landry series, and the fifth and final book in the series. Her high school graduation just days away, Gabriel is happy despite the rift between her Mama and conniving Daddy. Then rich cannery owner Octavious Tate surprises her near a secluded pond and shatters her innocence forever. Original.
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 Most of her early stories and novels went unpublished (one exception was "I Slept with My Uncle on My Wedding Night," which appeared in a pulp confession magazine).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.
Anonymous
Posted May 15, 2013
I read this a few years ago and i clearly remember being so captivated by it that it still haunts me to this day. I remember everythung that happened down to the horrible man that is her father, the loving strong woman that's her mama, the scene that she lost her innocence forever, every moment of her being locked away, her losing the only good thing that could've ever made her happy again to a cold bitter woman with a equally horrible past, then falling in love with a man so captivting, i remember the secret love nest they had and a tragic ending that was sad, beautiful and magical all at once. Gabriel landry is a wonderful character raised by the strongest woman alive and this story even years later makes me tear up a bit. If i could rate this ten stars i would
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.It was the last in the series and while you already knew what would happen it was nice to get the full story and from this point of view. I couldnt put it down
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Posted February 27, 2006
It was obvious as to what was going to happen to Gabriel if you read the first 4 novels. I was putting off finishing this book because I already knew her fate and didn't want to face it. It doesn't seem fair that such a sweet and loving person should have to go through so much turmoil as Gabriel did. I believe Pierre really loved her. She would have been a wonderful mother to Ruby & her twin, Gisselle. Maybe Gisselle would have turned out different. I loved this story and cried when it was finished.
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Posted August 16, 2005
This is the one and only VC Andrews series I completed. From start to finish it's a real rollercoaster. Gabrielle Landry is the Mother of Ruby. She died before Ruby got a chance to meet her and find out her secrets. This book starts out with Gabrielle's sexual encounter with Octavious Tate, father of her son Paul. After that we are taken into a spiral as Gabrielle tries to regain the old life she had without the son she would never know. Just when all hope is lost she meets Mr. Dumas. He promises Gabrielle the world and she is sucked into his orbit. You might even say her death was for Mr. Dumas the love she could never have. At the end of this book I cried. I cried for everyone who was involved in this messy situation because it was fueled by one man's lust and another man's greed. So many lives were ruined. Tarnished Gold ties up all the loose ends for me when it comes to the Landry series.
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Posted May 27, 2005
well this book was so awsome. i loved it. well people think that if they read it first they don't have to read the rest of the siereis but they are ooosooo wrong because the other ones have NOTHING to do with this book the only one that relats to it is like the begining of the first book Ruby and its my fav. sieries!!! i love V.C. Andrews!!
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Posted September 30, 2004
I thought this was the best book and it was the first I read out of this series. I recommend it, because you don't have to read the rest of the Landry series to get it. The end was a little sad and disappointing, though.
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Posted April 15, 2004
This book is the best that i have ever read, i cried at the end and i cant wait to read the rest of the Landry series
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Posted October 4, 2003
This book was beautifully written and keeps you wanting to read it till you're done. Unfortunatly for me this what the first book of the Landry Series that I read, so when I read all of the others I'll understand everything before I'm suppose to. Tarnished Gold is a book I would suggest to anyone who enjoys reading fiction, especially young women and teenaged girls like myself.
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Posted October 2, 2003
THIS BOOK WAS INCREDIBLE I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN I COUNLD'NT WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED NEXT I FELT SO SORRY FOR THE LEAD CHARACTER THIS POOR GIRL COULD NOT GET AHEAD NO MATTER WHAT SHE TRIED IT WAS SUPERB AND ONE OF THE FINEST I'VE READ IN A LONG TIME V.C. ANDREWS FOREVER
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Posted September 5, 2003
this is a great book. i think any body who has become pregnant by rape can relate to it and any who has truely been in love can realate to it. v.c. andrews is a great author and i will try to read all her books.
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Posted May 7, 2003
i like this book because it can happen in reality and i felt that i was part of the story and feel what the character going though.
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Posted January 20, 2003
I agree one hundred percent!!! This is, by far, the greatest book in the Landry Series. I enjoyed every single word of the book. I wanted to cry when the book came to an end. V.C. Andrews really brings to life the protagnist, Gabriel. Though her difficult struggles we truely realize what the words, "true love", really mean. A HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BOOK!!!
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Posted December 9, 2002
Tarnished gold is a very good book. A book that you'll read over and over. Tarinshed gold is about gabriele landry who is a beautiful young girl who has a gift with animals and one day as she sits on a rock mosiuer tate rapes her. Gladlys tate tells her she will pay her father money for him to keep it a sectret and the baby will grow up a tate, but gabriel will stay in gladlys playroom for 9 months till the baby comes . Gabriel soon makes friends with a herion and a deaf-mute henry. When gabreils baby comes gabriel is very sad for she can't have it. then she watches them and she saves the baby from a rattle snake. Gabriel soon meets piere, but he is married. She gets pregant and promises the baby to his wife daphine. Gabriel has twins and I won't say what happens. It is a book u gotta read
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Posted September 26, 2002
this is a great book! i love it and it is very sad...but its GREAT book!
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Posted May 30, 2002
I could not put this book down when I started to read it. I loved it. It cleared up a lot of questions about the other books in the series. I would recommend reading this book before reading the rest of the series.
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Posted July 28, 2002
I loved this V.C. Andrews book. It was so sad reading about all of Gabriel's hardships and dreams of romance. She suffered so much. I loved the characters in the book, they're so interesting. It was just an amazing book, despite it being so sad!!
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Posted January 31, 2002
Tarnished Gold, the prequel to the captivating Landry series, sucked me into the world of Gabriel Landry. At Gabriel's high school graduation, her father terribly embarrasses her, leaving her feeling sad and alone. She spends her days in the bayou observing the beautiful nature and poling her pirogue. While sunbathing one day, a man approaches her and changes her life...forever. After the first 25 pages of this book, I literally could not put it down. I suggest reading the this prequel before reading the Landry series, because it clears up some confusion. I recommend this book for mature readers.
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Posted May 3, 2002
vc andrews needs to actually write a story that is not like every single one of her books. i have read about 3 of her stories (different series) and they are ALL THE SAME!!!! if you have read one book, you've read 'em all. they all are overly dramatic and are all about you know, families selling their children, secret adoption, rape, incest, ALWAYS. you already know whats going to happen. i only read these stories because its like watching a bad TV show. cheap entertainment. if anyone else feels this way, i would like to know.
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Posted June 13, 2001
This is V.C. Andrews at her finest. In the beginning you think 'Poor Girl' about Gabriel, and 'Evil Witch' about Gladys. As the book progresses you fall in love with Pierre Dumas along with Gabriel. I cried in the end, because it was so sad.
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Posted February 13, 2001
First of all, I absolutly loved the Landry series. It was the best.I read each book in the series in about two days. When I started to read Tarnished Gold I think I almost fell asleep. I expected more to happen than what really was. If you want to read this book, read the back cover of it. From my point of view the back cover is all you need to know to read this book. But read it for yourself you may think different than me.
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Overview
Tarnished Gold is the captivating prequel to the bestselling V. C. Andrews© Landry series that began with Ruby and continued with Pearl in the Mist, All That Glitters, and Hidden Jewel. This thrilling new novel takes us back to the Louisiana bayou in the time before Ruby. In a world of wondrous natural beauty, a world of tantalizing dreams and inescapable sorrow, we meet Gabriel Landry, daughter of Catherine and Jack.
Growing up in her beloved swamp, Gabriel is supremely happy,...