Petals on the Wind, her sequel to Flowers, was published the next year, earning Virginia a $35,000 advance. Her new-generation Gothic novel reached the bestseller lists a mere two weeks after its 1979 paperback publication by Pocket Books. She drafted a new outline in a single night and added 'unspeakable things my mother didn't want me to write about.' The ninety-eight-page revision was re-titled Flowers in the Attic and she was paid a $7,500 advance. She was told that the story had potential, but needed to be trimmed and spiced up a bit. Promise gleamed over the horizon for Virginia when she submitted a 290,000-word novel, The Obsessed, to a publishing company. 'I Slept with My Uncle on My Wedding Night', a short fiction piece, was published in a pulp confession magazine. Between 19, she wrote nine novels and twenty short stories, of which only one was published. In 1972, she completed her first novel, The Gods of the Green Mountain, a science-fantasy story. After graduation, she nurtured her artistic talent by completing a four-year correspondence art course while living at home with her family.Īfter William Andrews died in the late 1960s, Virginia helped to support herself and her mother through her extremely successful career as a commercial artist, portrait painter, and fashion illustrator.įrustrated with the lack of creative satisfaction that her work provided, Virginia sought creative release through writing, which she did in secret. She proudly earned her diploma from Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth. Virginia excelled in school and, at fifteen, won a scholarship for writing a parody of Tennyson's Idylls of the King. Arthritis and a failed spinal surgical procedure forced her to spend most of her life on crutches or in a wheelchair. While a teenager, Virginia suffered a tragic accident, falling down the stairs at her school and incurred severe back injuries. The Andrews family returned to Portsmouth while Virginia was in high school.

She spent her happy childhood years in Portsmouth, Virginia, living briefly in Rochester, New York. The youngest child and the only daughter of William Henry Andrews, a career navy man who opened a tool-and-die business after retirement, and Lillian Lilnora Parker Andrews, a telephone operator. Virginia Cleo Andrews (born Cleo Virginia Andrews) was born Jin Portsmouth, Virginia. Books since her death ghost written by Andrew Neiderman, but still attributed to the V.C. Books published under the following names - Virginia Andrews, V.

Petals in the attic series