V. C. Andrews: A Critical Companion [Hardcover]

.,."the first full-length study of the work of gothic novelist Andrews, who specializes in creating female adolescent characters caught between childhood and adulthood confrontations and conflicts. Many high school teens and adults are enthusiasts of the Andrews style of writing: this thus provides a contemporary and meaningful literary analysis and criticism of a popular author and may appeal to readers of light fiction who can use it to understand the basics of both Andrews' writings and the intentions of literary analysis and criticism. High school collections in particular will want to include this on their shelves."-The Midwest Book Review

This is the first full-length study of the work of gothic novelist V.C. Andrews. Andrews's ability to create adolescent characters who are caught uncomfortably between childhood and adulthood has won her millions of teenage readers. She focuses on the female adolescent experience and connects with her readers by creating characters who reflect adolescent struggles, confusion, and pain. Huntley shows that the power of Andrews's novels lies in her creation of an enthralling nightmare world, like a fairy tale gone berserk, in which the young heroine struggles with adolescent fears and frustrations in suddenly dangerous and bizarre domestic settings. Huntley locates the novels in the tradition of the female gothic, which Andrews refashioned into her own brand of gothicism: a blend of the gothic with horror fiction and the fairy tale.

E. D. HUNTLEY is Professor of English and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.