Ghostwritten follow-ups are nothing new in the publishing industry, especially when it comes to thrillers and books aimed at young adult readers. The concept may have been invented by two landmark series that never had original authors to begin with; The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew.
Now, literal fiction factories hiring desperate students are churning out similar work; Robert Ludlum’s massively successful Bourne series is being added to annually by his ghost, the James Bond franchise has become an author lottery to see who gets to have all the fun of writing the next one and certain, particularly terrible crime writers (you know who you are) are hiring ghostwriters to back them up on their work whist they’re still alive.
As the first entry in the Dollanganger series, Flowers in the Attic was followed up with annual sequels continuing the dark family tale: Petals on the Wind (1980), If There Be Thorns (1981), Seeds of Yesterday (1984) and Garden of Shadows (1986). The latter, still unfinished at the time of Andrews’ death from cancer at the age of 63, was completed on her behalf by ghostwriter Andrew Neiderman.
The series was first adapted to the screen in 1987, not long after the final release. The appearance of a second TV adaptation in January this year has apparently rekindled interest in the series, hence the announcement that two new spin-off novels are to be released. Whether these will be penned by Nedierman, formally hired by Andrews’ estate in 1986 to deal with her remaining work, has not been made clear. We do, however, have titles and synopses.
It’s safe to say, then, that this could go either way. Since Andrews never wrote from Christopher’s perspective, the new writer may have a chance to take a few liberties. We can only hope that the explanation as to the new protagonist’s familial relationship to him is a plausible one, and there’s an equally good explanation for how the house has collapsed into ruins for the second time in 30 years (hire new builders, guys). Andrews’ fans will likely be taking the whole thing with several buckets of salt. Let’s not forget that this was prompted by a Lifetime drama version of the novel, which hardly falls into the same style category as Danielle Steele.