Were the kids in the mothers plan as she pleaded with them?

There's mixed views about this. The initial feeling I had was that the kids were in the mother's original plans, however, as she begins getting accustomed to the life she left, and the money, she begins to realise how easily her children can be shucked in favour of a better life with her new suitor.

In the book I think it was a slightly different and more complicated issue. I'm in two minds whether I believe her sincerity when she talks about wanting to get each child out of the house gradually through the poisoning.

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We've become a race of peeping toms.

I think that AT FIRST she thought it would be an easy fix. That her father would die and then she would get the money. Once the will was discovered and she realized that if she acknowledged the kids she would lose the money. Maybe getting them sick and sneaking them out without anyone knowing and setting them up somewhere would insure that Corrine would get BOTH the family and the money. I don't think she willingly tried to kill her children but she put them in harm's way selfishly and without any regard to her kids' well-being. I do think she is solely responsible for the death of Cory and Carrie but not with the intention of killing them.

It didn't work of course but then again I never thought Corinne was that bright to start with.

She knew almost immediately that her father would never accept her children and had no problem writing them off. The book goes into it more and shows the depth of her self-involvement. It shows her kids finding the will and reading that if it was ever proven she had children from her first marriage, even after her father's death, she would be disinherited and lose everything. The book sequels go further to explain that his will did say that, but also that she would be disinherited if she EVER had children in another marriage in the future.

You really should try to read the whole series, starting with Garden of Shadows which is really the Grandmother's story. It makes it clear just how sick and twisted the family is and continues to be after the kids run away, and it actually gives you a bit of sympathy for the Grandmother; she was a good person and probably would have remained so if she hadn't married Malcolm Foxworth. He is really where it all begins. Also, the mother doesn't die in the book and continues to be a huge influence on her kids, mostly on or through Cathy.

After they were taken over by a ghostwriter when Andrews died, her books became repetitive, but this series and My Sweet Audrina are very good. If you do want to read the series, the order is: Garden of Shadows, Flowers In the Attic, Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, and Seeds of Yesterday.

Oh and also, her father knew about the kids from the beginning. He had hired a private investigator to keep tabs on her after she ran away.

Be careful of reading Garden of Shadows first. Although it is a prequel to Flowers in the Attic, it wasn't first in publishing order as it was the last of the series. It reveals a lot of the ... Plot line that keeps you in suspense throughout the other books.

I think it's left up to the reader to determine this.

In my case, I believe in the beginning she was fiercely protective of her children and really thought she might have a chance to get the money and have her children too. The longer she lived at Foxworth Hall and got accustomed to the things money could buy, her children faded into the background and she began to resent them when they asked to be let out.

I don't think she was trying to kill them (why kill them when she could just leave them there?) but she was playing a very dangerous game by trying to make them sick to get them out. I think in the end she really loved her children and regretted what she did.

Regarding Garden of Shadows - read it last and take it with a grain of salt. There are many inconsistencies.

-For instance, in GoS, Olivia keeps the birth of the children from Malcolm. In the rest of the series, we are led to believe that Malcolm knew all along (he looks up at the case Chris and Cathy are hiding in and Corrine later mentions that he knew and used it against her).
-Other inconsistencies include the names of Olivia's children - Malcolm "Mal" and Joel. When Joel mentions his brother in Seeds of Yesterday, he calls him "Mel." Some have tried to explain this as the Joel in SoY being an imposter.
-In Flowers in the Attic the children come to Foxworth Hall in the late spring/early summer. In Garden of Shadows, just before they arrive, Olivia mentions that snow is falling.

There are others, but those are some of the most blatant ones. In case no one could tell, I can't stand GoS.

I felt like at first Corrine planned to try to get the money and let the kids out fairly soon. I think as time developed and she realized the clause in the will (likely she found out through the lawyer way before her dad died) she realized she didn't want to give up leading the extravagant life she had. This is why after maybe six months to a year there, Corrine ends up becoming even more distant to the kids - at that point she had chosen to keep them there forever.

The reason I came to this conclusion is it seems seriously odd that she shouldn't have at least sneaked them out from time to time to let them go outside for awhile. Her father was supposedly seriously ill and it couldn't have been that hard to try to buy off a couple servants to look the other way so to speak as the children come out - especially in the early morning or at dusk. She could have even spent the money she ended up spending on pretty clothes and jewels for extra food for the children as well.




"It's better to be hated for who you are than be loved for who you aren't."