親愛的奧德莉娜

This was one of the first V.C. Andrews books I read, and I was probably way too young for it, but it remains one I like because the central mystery is so odd. As par for the course in a V.C. Andrews book (and this one was actually written by her and not by one of the legion of ghostwriters that took over after she died), there are weird family mysteries afoot from the beginning, and figuring them out while watching a child grow into an adult is the main story. Audrina is naïve for a narrator, and that adds to the tension as she rarely understands what is going on and is easily fooled by quite a few things, some of which the reader will see as they are reading and some of which are saved for the big reveal moments. It's hard to say, on a re-read so many years later, whether I had guessed any of these reveals, but I'm inclined to say no, if only because I was so young and, let's be honest, most reveals in V.C. Andrews books are pretty twisted. The house itself helps set the mood as a sort of eerie gothic novel. It's set off by itself and doesn't always seem to make sense. The inhabitants seem at least partially mad, and trying to sort out how much of that is them and how much of that is Audrina, whose own sanity is drawn into question quite early on, is part of the fun. The supporting characters generally run gray on the morality scale. Many have good intentions that do them no real good in the end, and several are simply so confused about what the right thing to do is they don't act at all. There are some that run as close to evil as seems feasible, but even then we are given enough background to feel bad about what has happened and to see why they are the way they are. If you're a fan of gothics or V.C. Andrews, or you're interested in trying one out, this is a solid choice to begin with. It is a stand-alone novel, so everything is as wrapped up in the end as needed and there won't be any loose plot threads to annoy you into tracking down the next book. V.C. Andrews is one of my go-to "sick reads" because it's easy to suck down a whole one of her books without realizing how long it actually is, and while not cerebral certainly, they do give you enough to try to figure out to distract you.