The Woman Beyond the Attic: the V.C. Andrews Story by Andrew Neiderman

Author:Andrew Neiderman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2022-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

chapter eight Leaving the Attic

IN ILLUSTRATION OF HOW Virginia Andrews’s fame had crossed the ocean ahead of her, we have the letter from the secretary to the deputy master of the household at Buckingham Palace replying to a request made by Mark Gray, Esq., the promotions manager of her UK publisher, Fontana. The request was for Virginia to be permitted to stand in the forecourt to watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony, something reserved for celebrities and highly respected members of the realm.

Permission was granted.

On September 6, 1982, a reporter from the Times of London called Virginia to interview her so that the article about her would appear when she arrived on September 17. Her publisher in the UK had to make a number of intricate arrangements for her, including procuring a special van. The Times described her in a cruel and inaccurate manner, a reminder of why Virginia disliked interviews: “… paralyzed from the neck down. [Untrue.] She must travel in an outsize wheelchair in which she is tipped back at an angle, necessitating her wearing a bib when she eats. [Not any more than anyone would, handicapped or not.] She needs a custom-built van with a hydraulic lift before she can glide through the carefully-measured doors.”

The trip was a full nineteen-day tour. Although there was no doubt Virginia needed special assistance, the reporter’s depiction of her made her sound like an incapacitated woman, which suggested a publisher was dragging around a fragile person just to make a buck.

On the contrary, Virginia was filled with excitement and energy. When Anita Diamant asked before the trip if Virginia would mind a cocktail party and a formal dinner every night with the press and other media, Virginia’s answer was, “Of course I don’t mind.”

This was not the response of someone as helpless as a baby, uncomfortable in social settings, and constantly in pain.

The Times reporter highlighted some of the more negative comments about Flowers in the Attic as well. Perhaps it was a bow to sensationalism, or perhaps this reporter was reminded of her own mixed feelings during adolescence and was haunted by the novel. Whatever the case, it certainly underscores why Virginia had showed such reluctance about the so-called in-depth interview since the People magazine experience, which she considered nasty and devastating and which featured photos that, in her opinion, portrayed her in the worst light, almost as distorted.

The press notwithstanding, in her letter to her nephew Brad, we can clearly see Virginia’s vitality and excitement in her description of preparations in the days leading up to the big trip:

“This Thursday and Friday, Mother and I are off to autographing parties in local shopping malls. We’ve been doing that ever since we came back from New York. This coming Saturday is our day off, during which ‘free’ time we will have to finish packing to leave on Sunday for JFK airport. We will be staying there overnight at the International Hotel, and catching British Airways at ten on Monday.”

Though

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