Petals on the Wind
Encyclopedia
Petals on the Wind is a novel written by V. C. Andrews in 1980. It is the second book in the Dollanganger series. The timeline takes place from the siblings' successful escape in November 1960 to the fall of 1975.
, the story starts off with Cathy, Chris, and Carrie traveling by bus to Florida after escaping Foxworth Hall. Carrie, still weak from the effects of the poison that killed her twin, is taken ill on the journey. The children are then discovered by Henrietta "Henny" Beech, the mute housekeeper of a local South Carolina
doctor and widower, Paul Sheffield. Henny takes the children to the doctor's home so he can help Carrie. At first the children are secretive about where they are from and what they have gone through. But Cathy, sensing he genuinely cares and can help them, tells Dr. Paul their horrifying story of being locked up for three years, and being poisoned by their mother and grandmother. He convinces them to stay with him. Though the three thrive under Paul's care, fulfilling their dreams -- Chris goes to premed and medical school, and Cathy joins a local ballet school then later one in New York -- Cathy is still bitter and bent on revenge against her mother, seeing her as the root of every problem in their lives: everything from Cory's death and Carrie's deformation to her and Chris' incestuous obsession with each other. While still in love with Chris, Cathy tries to get over her feelings for him and rejects his advances, saying she loves him only as a brother.
Over time, Cathy falls in love with Paul, they become lovers, and make plans to be married, much to Christopher's dismay (as he still loves and desires his sister). Part of this is due to Cathy's need to repay Paul sexually for taking them in and another part is to get over Chris. One day, Paul's sister visits Cathy after a ballet performance and leads Cathy to believe Paul's wife isn't dead. She also states that she knows Cathy miscarried Paul's child, referring to an incident about a month after Paul took them in where Cathy was hospitalized when she began bleeding profusely—she was told it was due to her irregular menstrual periods. Cathy realizes if she did miscarry, it was Chris' child, not Paul's. She confronts Paul, who admits his wife had still been alive when he first took them in (though in a permanent vegetative state from a suicide attempt years ago), but she died around the time he and Cathy became lovers. He also insists Cathy did not miscarry, but Cathy realizes she has now revealed to Paul the truth about her and Chris committing incest
while they were imprisoned. Paul assures her he loves her, but she reveals that she felt so hurt and betrayed by what his sister told her that she married a man in her dance troupe, a fiery dancer named Julian Marquet who had been pursuing her from the moment he met her. Cathy knows she has made a mistake in marrying Julian, but feels she has to stay with him.
Julian is possessive of Cathy and jealous of her relationship with both Paul and Chris. He abuses her, cheats on her, and forbids her to see Paul or Chris. Cathy even has to sneak away to see Chris graduate from medical school. When she returns to Julian, he breaks her toes so that she cannot perform. Chris comes to her rescue, and wants her to leave. However, Cathy is pregnant with Julian's child and realizes that she does love Julian and wants to try and make her marriage work, even though both Paul and Chris insist that she must get away for her own safety. In the midst of this conflict, Julian is rendered paralyzed in a car accident. Even though Cathy tells him about the baby and that she loves him, he commits suicide in his hospital bed when he learns he will never dance again. Cathy, though guilt-ridden, is free.
After the birth of her son (named Julian Janus Marquet, and called Jory -- J for Julian, the rest for Cory), Cathy once more becomes determined to destroy her mother's life. She moves with Carrie and Jory to Virginia, not far from Foxworth Hall. Under the guise of collecting Julian's insurance, she hires her mother's husband, Bart Winslow, as her lawyer, with the intention of seducing him and eventually revealing her true identity as Corrine's daughter.
Meanwhile, Carrie meets a young man named Alex and they have a rich courtship. However, when Alex tells Carrie he plans to be a minister, Carrie becomes frightened, having remembered her grandmother Olivia's lectures about the devil's spawn. Soon after, Carrie attempts suicide
by eating doughnut
s poisoned with arsenic
. In the hospital, Cathy relays to Carrie that Alex has said he will not become a minister since it bothers her so much. But Carrie reveals the real reason for her suicide attempt: she tells Cathy she saw their mother on the street and ran up to her, only to be angrily rejected by Corinne—this further convinced Carrie that she must be bad and evil, because why else would a mother do that to her child? Carrie then dies from the damage of her suicide attempt, and her obvious loss of will to live. Cathy is devastated, and becomes even more enraged and intent on revenge against her mother.
Even though Christopher tells Cathy to give up her plan of revenge against their mother, and says he will have nothing to do with her until she does, Cathy continues her plan to seduce Bart Winslow. Though initially focused solely on revenge, she and Bart fall in love and begin a prolonged affair. Cathy also sneaks into Foxworth Hall one evening, and begins looking for her grandmother, who by this time is an invalid due to a stroke. Cathy taunts and lashes her grandmother, but eventually starts to feel guilty and runs from the mansion. While Cathy and Bart continue their affair, she becomes pregnant with Bart's child, an act she believes will be a crushing blow to her mother, who, according to her grandfather's will, must forfeit her vast inheritance should she ever bear (or have borne) children. As Bart and his wife cannot have children, he is torn between his desire to be a husband to Corinne and his wish to be a father to Cathy's unborn child.
Cathy returns to Foxworth Hall a second time on Christmas and visits the room that she and her siblings were locked up in; she describes the room as being as they have never left. She waits until the stroke of midnight and then takes her revenge on her mother by exposing the truth to Bart and a crowd of guests at her mother's Christmas Party at Foxworth Hall. Bart whisks Cathy and Corinne away from the party to the library
; at first he thinks Cathy is lying, but he hears her out and confronts Corinne. Corinne confesses in front of Bart but then exposes her side of the story, claiming to be a victim of her father, whose vicious plot was to ensure his grandchildren died trapped in the attic. She claims that she gave the children the arsenic to simply make them sick, whereupon she could take them out of the house and get them away and lie to her parents that they had died at the hospital. Cathy does not believe her and Bart is visibly disgusted by what she has done and the secrets she kept from him. Christopher arrives at the house and bursts into the library. Corinne mistakes him to be her first husband, come back to haunt her. Cathy's mother suffers a mental breakdown in which she suddenly believes that Cathy is twelve again and has somehow escaped the attic to confront her. In her madness, she sets fire to Foxworth Hall. Cathy and her mother escape, but Olivia is trapped and Bart runs to save her. Both end up dying in the fire. Cathy's mother is committed to a mental institution. It is later revealed that in a twist of fate, although Corinne has forfeited her father's inheritance, all that money has reverted to her now-dead mother, who stated in her will that her daughter was to receive everything.
Chris tells Cathy why he came to Foxworth Hall to find her: Henny had a massive stroke, and in the process of trying to help her, Paul suffered a massive heart attack. Cathy returns to Paul and finally marries him, but due to complications from four heart attacks, Paul dies soon after. On his deathbed, Paul encourages Cathy to be with Chris, who has loved her and waited for her all these years. Cathy is amazed that Chris still loves her and still wants to be with her. They move to California, where Cathy and Chris take the name "Sheffield" and plan to raise Cathy's two sons together, although Cathy secretly dreads what will happen to the children if their secret relationship is ever revealed. She also ends the book stating that she has been having strange thoughts about the attic in their house, and even put two twin beds up there. She wonders if she is somehow becoming her mother.
Plot
A continuation to the previous book Flowers in the AtticFlowers in the Attic
Flowers in the Attic is a 1979 novel by Virginia Andrews. It is the first book in the Dollanganger Series, and was followed by Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows. The novel is written in the first person from the point of view of Cathy Dollanganger...
, the story starts off with Cathy, Chris, and Carrie traveling by bus to Florida after escaping Foxworth Hall. Carrie, still weak from the effects of the poison that killed her twin, is taken ill on the journey. The children are then discovered by Henrietta "Henny" Beech, the mute housekeeper of a local South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
doctor and widower, Paul Sheffield. Henny takes the children to the doctor's home so he can help Carrie. At first the children are secretive about where they are from and what they have gone through. But Cathy, sensing he genuinely cares and can help them, tells Dr. Paul their horrifying story of being locked up for three years, and being poisoned by their mother and grandmother. He convinces them to stay with him. Though the three thrive under Paul's care, fulfilling their dreams -- Chris goes to premed and medical school, and Cathy joins a local ballet school then later one in New York -- Cathy is still bitter and bent on revenge against her mother, seeing her as the root of every problem in their lives: everything from Cory's death and Carrie's deformation to her and Chris' incestuous obsession with each other. While still in love with Chris, Cathy tries to get over her feelings for him and rejects his advances, saying she loves him only as a brother.
Over time, Cathy falls in love with Paul, they become lovers, and make plans to be married, much to Christopher's dismay (as he still loves and desires his sister). Part of this is due to Cathy's need to repay Paul sexually for taking them in and another part is to get over Chris. One day, Paul's sister visits Cathy after a ballet performance and leads Cathy to believe Paul's wife isn't dead. She also states that she knows Cathy miscarried Paul's child, referring to an incident about a month after Paul took them in where Cathy was hospitalized when she began bleeding profusely—she was told it was due to her irregular menstrual periods. Cathy realizes if she did miscarry, it was Chris' child, not Paul's. She confronts Paul, who admits his wife had still been alive when he first took them in (though in a permanent vegetative state from a suicide attempt years ago), but she died around the time he and Cathy became lovers. He also insists Cathy did not miscarry, but Cathy realizes she has now revealed to Paul the truth about her and Chris committing incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
while they were imprisoned. Paul assures her he loves her, but she reveals that she felt so hurt and betrayed by what his sister told her that she married a man in her dance troupe, a fiery dancer named Julian Marquet who had been pursuing her from the moment he met her. Cathy knows she has made a mistake in marrying Julian, but feels she has to stay with him.
Julian is possessive of Cathy and jealous of her relationship with both Paul and Chris. He abuses her, cheats on her, and forbids her to see Paul or Chris. Cathy even has to sneak away to see Chris graduate from medical school. When she returns to Julian, he breaks her toes so that she cannot perform. Chris comes to her rescue, and wants her to leave. However, Cathy is pregnant with Julian's child and realizes that she does love Julian and wants to try and make her marriage work, even though both Paul and Chris insist that she must get away for her own safety. In the midst of this conflict, Julian is rendered paralyzed in a car accident. Even though Cathy tells him about the baby and that she loves him, he commits suicide in his hospital bed when he learns he will never dance again. Cathy, though guilt-ridden, is free.
After the birth of her son (named Julian Janus Marquet, and called Jory -- J for Julian, the rest for Cory), Cathy once more becomes determined to destroy her mother's life. She moves with Carrie and Jory to Virginia, not far from Foxworth Hall. Under the guise of collecting Julian's insurance, she hires her mother's husband, Bart Winslow, as her lawyer, with the intention of seducing him and eventually revealing her true identity as Corrine's daughter.
Meanwhile, Carrie meets a young man named Alex and they have a rich courtship. However, when Alex tells Carrie he plans to be a minister, Carrie becomes frightened, having remembered her grandmother Olivia's lectures about the devil's spawn. Soon after, Carrie attempts suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by eating doughnut
Doughnut
A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
s poisoned with arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
. In the hospital, Cathy relays to Carrie that Alex has said he will not become a minister since it bothers her so much. But Carrie reveals the real reason for her suicide attempt: she tells Cathy she saw their mother on the street and ran up to her, only to be angrily rejected by Corinne—this further convinced Carrie that she must be bad and evil, because why else would a mother do that to her child? Carrie then dies from the damage of her suicide attempt, and her obvious loss of will to live. Cathy is devastated, and becomes even more enraged and intent on revenge against her mother.
Even though Christopher tells Cathy to give up her plan of revenge against their mother, and says he will have nothing to do with her until she does, Cathy continues her plan to seduce Bart Winslow. Though initially focused solely on revenge, she and Bart fall in love and begin a prolonged affair. Cathy also sneaks into Foxworth Hall one evening, and begins looking for her grandmother, who by this time is an invalid due to a stroke. Cathy taunts and lashes her grandmother, but eventually starts to feel guilty and runs from the mansion. While Cathy and Bart continue their affair, she becomes pregnant with Bart's child, an act she believes will be a crushing blow to her mother, who, according to her grandfather's will, must forfeit her vast inheritance should she ever bear (or have borne) children. As Bart and his wife cannot have children, he is torn between his desire to be a husband to Corinne and his wish to be a father to Cathy's unborn child.
Cathy returns to Foxworth Hall a second time on Christmas and visits the room that she and her siblings were locked up in; she describes the room as being as they have never left. She waits until the stroke of midnight and then takes her revenge on her mother by exposing the truth to Bart and a crowd of guests at her mother's Christmas Party at Foxworth Hall. Bart whisks Cathy and Corinne away from the party to the library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
; at first he thinks Cathy is lying, but he hears her out and confronts Corinne. Corinne confesses in front of Bart but then exposes her side of the story, claiming to be a victim of her father, whose vicious plot was to ensure his grandchildren died trapped in the attic. She claims that she gave the children the arsenic to simply make them sick, whereupon she could take them out of the house and get them away and lie to her parents that they had died at the hospital. Cathy does not believe her and Bart is visibly disgusted by what she has done and the secrets she kept from him. Christopher arrives at the house and bursts into the library. Corinne mistakes him to be her first husband, come back to haunt her. Cathy's mother suffers a mental breakdown in which she suddenly believes that Cathy is twelve again and has somehow escaped the attic to confront her. In her madness, she sets fire to Foxworth Hall. Cathy and her mother escape, but Olivia is trapped and Bart runs to save her. Both end up dying in the fire. Cathy's mother is committed to a mental institution. It is later revealed that in a twist of fate, although Corinne has forfeited her father's inheritance, all that money has reverted to her now-dead mother, who stated in her will that her daughter was to receive everything.
Chris tells Cathy why he came to Foxworth Hall to find her: Henny had a massive stroke, and in the process of trying to help her, Paul suffered a massive heart attack. Cathy returns to Paul and finally marries him, but due to complications from four heart attacks, Paul dies soon after. On his deathbed, Paul encourages Cathy to be with Chris, who has loved her and waited for her all these years. Cathy is amazed that Chris still loves her and still wants to be with her. They move to California, where Cathy and Chris take the name "Sheffield" and plan to raise Cathy's two sons together, although Cathy secretly dreads what will happen to the children if their secret relationship is ever revealed. She also ends the book stating that she has been having strange thoughts about the attic in their house, and even put two twin beds up there. She wonders if she is somehow becoming her mother.
Characters
- Julian Marquet: A ballet dancer and Cathy's first husband. He is very cruel to her and hates seeing her with Paul and Chris. He had apparently molested Carrie, which she confessed to Cathy before her death. He is paralyzed in a car accident and then commits suicide. His only child with Cathy is Jory.
- Jory Marquet: Cathy's first son. Birth name Julian Janus Marquet, Jr. His nickname is a portmanteau of Julian and Cory (Cathy's brother). He is Cathy's pride and joy, due to his brilliant dance skills and beauty. He has his father's fierce temper when angered but he is never violent or abusive. He is very kind and gentle, more like Chris than Julian in personality.
- Yolanda Lange: Cathy's room mate at the Ballet Academy and her rival for both Chris and Julian. She and Cathy hate each other deeply. Cathy, who feels Chris is too good for Yolanda, is disgusted that Chris and Yolanda are lovers but does not care when Julian and Yolanda become lovers. She is killed in the car crash which paralyzes Julian.
- Paul Sheffield: A doctor who lives in Clairmont. He becomes the legal guardianLegal guardianA legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...
of the Dollanganger children. He provides means for Chris go to medical school, Cathy to ballet school, and Carrie an expensive private school. He marries Cathy towards the end of the book and, after having suffered prior heart attacks, dies peacefully in his sleep a few years later.
- Amanda Sheffield (Biddens) Paul's older sister. She is a scheming liar who disapproves of Paul's engagement to Cathy because of their age difference. To break them up, she tells Cathy that Paul's first wife is still alive. She further claims Cathy's D&CDilation and curettageDilation and curettage refers to the dilation of the cervix and surgical removal of part of the lining of the uterus and/or contents of the uterus by scraping and scooping . It is a diagnostic gynecological procedure.D&C normally is referred to a procedure involving a curette, also called sharp...
procedure aborted the two-headed monster embryo in a jar sitting on Paul's desk. Considering Amanda's age in this book, she is likely dead by now.
- Julia Sheffield: Paul's first wife and the mother of their son Scotty. She was frigid and withheld sex from Paul yet demanded fidelity from him. To punish Paul for having an affair, Julia murdered Scotty by drowning him in a river. She attempted to drown herself too but was taken to the hospital in a comaComaIn medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
and died later on.
- Scotty Sheffield: Dead son of Paul and Julia; murdered by Julia.
- Bart Sheffield: Cathy's second son, this one being fathered by Cathy's stepfather Bart Winslow. He envies his older brother Jory, whom Cathy seems to prefer. He grows up believing Paul was his father until the truth comes out in If There Be Thorns. He is a curious, precocious child who notices he does not look like Paul and wonders why he has no interest in becoming a doctor.
- Henrietta "Henny" Beech: A housemaid to Dr. Sheffield who helps Chris and Cathy when Carrie is ill. She is able to hear but not speak and communicates in written messages. Her personality is nurturing and motherly. She is a good cook and has a weight problem which contributes to her death from a stroke.
- Alex: Carrie's fiance. He planned on becoming a minister but tells Cathy that he would remain an electrician to save Carrie's life: "To me she was a dainty doll who didn't know she was beautiful. And if God lets her die I will never in this life find my credence again!"