Source: The V. C. Andrews Trivia and Quiz Book by Stephen Spignesi (Signet, 1994), p11-12

[V. C. Andrews was a very private person and details about her life are truly sketchy and difficult to find. the following brief profile was compiled from information found in Douglas E. Winter's excellent in-depth interview with V. C. Andrews that is included in his fascinating 1985 book, Faces of Fear (Berkley Books). Doug's interview with V. C. is the most comprehensive ever published and my sincerest thanks go out to him for his help and kindness].

V. C. Andrews was born in 1924 in Portsmouth, Virginia, one of three children. Her father was a career Navy man who opened a tool-and-die business when he retired. Her childhood years were spent in Portsmouth and Rochester, Virginia.

She "didn't have a terrible childhood," she told Douglas Winter in 1985. She read voraciously and also excelled in art. She won a scholarship at the age of fifteen for a literary parody she had written.

In her late teens, a fall down a flight of stairs tore a membrane and led to bone spurs. That fall, combined with botched orthopedic surgery, would lead to her ultimate dependence on a wheelchair later in life.

Andrews did commercial and portrait art for a time, before beginning what she described as "closet" writing after her father's death in the late 1960s and the family's move to Manchester, Missouri.

Winter writes, "In 1972, while living in Apache Junction, Arizona, Andrews began to devote all of her time to writing, completing her first novel, a science fantasy entitled The Gods of the Green Mountain."

Seven years later, after nine novels and twenty short stories, Virginia Andrews sold Flowers in the Attic.

Winter explains the sequence of events that led to the use of Andrews's initials rather than her name:

It is notable that it was not Andrews's decision to use her initials instead of her first name on her books. her experience is no different than that faced some fifty years ago by women writing for pulp horror magazines, who often found that neutering initials or pseudonyms were necessary when writing stories of horror and violence.

"The publisher sent me a copy of the galley of Flowers in the Attic, and it read, 'Virginia Andrews.' Then, when they sent me the cover, it said 'V.C. Andrews.' So I immediately called up and complained. And they said, 'It was a big mistake by the printers, and we can't change it--we've already printed a million copies of the cover and it's too expensive to throw them away."

"Then later, I learned the truth. It was an editorial decision. Men don't like to read women writers, and they wanted men to read the book. They wanted to prove to men tat women could write differently--that we don't write only about ribbons and frills and kisses and hugs, that we can really write something strong." [Faces of Fear, p. 175]

When Winter's interview took place, V. C. was apparently in good health. She was living with her mother in Virginia Beach, Virginia (a location familiar to V. C.'s readers) and she spoke of possibly directing a film based on one of her books. She also spoke of The Gods of the Green Mountain, a medieval novel, a fantasy trilogy, and a book about ESP being published sometime in the future.

V. C. noted that she did not want to write an autobiography, explaining, "My life isn't finished yet. I wouldn't have a good ending." She died in December of 1986. She was 62 years old.

Full text © 1994 Stephen Spignesi