# Read the first page of Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews Read the opening of Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews free, no signup. Four children locked in an attic by their own mother. - Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/flowers-in-the-attic-v-c-andrews - Genre: Gothic fiction - Year: 1979 - ISBN: 9781451636949 - Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9781416510888&s=read-page - Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9781451636949 - Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9781451636949 ## The opening It is so appropriate to color hope yellow, like that sun we seldom saw. And as I begin to copy from the old memorandum journals that I kept for so long, a title comes as if inspired. Open the Window and Stand in the Sunshine. Yet, I hesitate to name our story that. For I think of us more as flowers in the attic. Paper flowers. Born so brightly colored, and fading duller through all those long, grim, dreary, nightmarish days when we were held prisoners of hope, and kept captives by greed. But, we were never to color even one of our paper blossoms yellow. Charles Dickens would often start his novels with the birth of the protagonist and, being a favorite author of both mine and Chris's, I would duplicate his style—if I could. But he was a genius born to write without difficulty while I find every word I put down, I put down with tears, with bitter blood, with sour gall, well mixed and blended with shame and guilt. I thought I would never feel ashamed or guilty, that these were burdens for others to bear. Years have passed and I am older and wiser now, accepting, too. The tempest of rage that once stormed within me has simmered down so I can write, I hope, with truth and with less hatred and prejudice than would have been the case a few years ago. So, like Charles Dickens, in this work of “fiction” I will hide myself away behind a false name, and live in fake places, and I will pray to God that those who should will hurt when they read what I have to say. Certainly God in his infinite mercy will see that some understanding publisher will put my words in a book, and help grind the knife that I hope to wield. Truly, when I was very young, way back in the Fifties, I believed all of life would be like one long and perfect summer day. After all, it did start out that way. There’s not much I can say about our earliest childhood except that it was very good, and for that, I should be everlastingly grateful. We weren’t rich, we weren’t poor. If we lacked some necessity, I couldn’t name it; if we had luxuries, I couldn’t name those, either, without comparing what we had to what others had, and nobody had more or less in our middleclass neighborhood. In other words, short and simple, we were just ordinary, run-of-the-mill children. Our daddy was a P.R. man for a large computer manufacturing firm located in Gladstone, Pennsylvania: population, 12,602. He was a huge success, our father, for often his boss dined with us, and bragged about the job Daddy seemed to perform so well. “It’s that all-American, wholesome, devastatingly good-looking face and charming manner that does them in. Great God in heaven, Chris, what sensible person could resist a fella like you?” Heartily, I agreed with that. Our father was perfect. He stood six feet two, weighed 180 pounds, and his hair was thick and flaxen blond, and waved just enough to be perfect; his eyes were cerulean blue and they sparkled with laughter, with his great zest for living and having fun. His nose was straight and neither too long nor too narrow, nor too thick. He played tennis and golf like a pro and swam so much he kept a suntan all through the year. He was always dashing off on airplanes to California, to Florida, to Arizona, or to Hawaii, or even abroad on business, while we were left at home in the care of our mother. ## Books with a similar feel - [Dragonwyck by Anya Seton](https://uncovered.ink/read/dragonwyck-anya-seton.md) - [The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-oscar-wilde.md) - [The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-woman-in-white-wilkie-collins.md) - [Dracula by Bram Stoker](https://uncovered.ink/read/dracula-bram-stoker.md) - [The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom by Tobias George Smollett](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-adventures-of-ferdinand-count-fathom-tobias-george-smollett.md) - [Her Wicked Roots by Tanya Pell](https://uncovered.ink/read/her-wicked-roots-tanya-pell.md) --- Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. Rights holders can request removal at https://uncovered.ink/takedown.