Heaven

When I was fourteen, I picked up this book at my high school library. Since then I've read every book by V.C. Andrews. Heaven is the best book written by her ever, and you should pick this book up asap. Heaven Leigh Casteel is the oldest of five children that live in a shack in the mountains in West Virginia. Despised by her father, and made a slave by her mother, she is destined to be invisible. Then one cold night, her grandmother Casteel takes her out to the cemetary to show her the tombstone of a 14 year old girl named Angel. Her grandmother explains that this is Heaven's mother, a young girl who had fallen in love with Heaven's father, Luke when she was running away from her rich family in Boston. When Angel died, Luke turned into a monster and treated everyone with disdain. Now Heaven knew why her father wouldn't even look at her, much less show her affection. When Heaven's stepmother becomes pregnant again and goes through a very difficult pregnancy and gives birth to a stillborn baby, without the support or presence of her husband, Sarah (the stepmother) just up and leaves all the children alone to fend for themselves. For months the children resorted to stealing to feed the two youngest frail children, Our Jane and Keith. During all this grief and responsiblity placed on 14 year old Heaven's shoulders, the only constant in her life is Logan, the only person in the world to ever love her for herself. But then one day their father shows up again to drop a bombshell on them: he's selling all of them to other families. For $500 a piece he first sells Our Jane and Keith. Then Fanny eagerly goes next. Then Tom, Heaven's closest sibling is sold off next, vowing that he would find a way to get them back together again. Suddenly all alone, Heaven is stuck with her evil father and a frail grandpa that done absolutely nothing while Luke sold all of his children. Finally Heaven's day arrived. But she had a choice of two differnt families. She picked the young looking couple with the striking titian haired beauty and the calm, sad looking man. Never to see the Willies (that's the name of the mountain) again. When she arrived at the home of Kitty and Cal Dennison, she realized that she made a big mistake choosing them. Kitty was obsessed with cleanliness...and Heaven's father, Luke. Facing years of physical and emotional abuse, Heaven turns to Cal for support and love. Only that support and love turns to an unnatural love of Heaven from Cal. Then Kitty gets sick and they decide to take her to her hometown...the valley where Heaven went to school. Elated that she could see Tom, Fanny, and Logan again, Heaven went in search of them. That's when she found out that Fanny didn't want to see her, Tom was a slave to his "adopted" father, and Logan was still in love with her. She also recieves a letter from her father apologizing and wanting all of his children to move in with him and his new wife. There is also a plane ticket t

"Heaven" is the first book in one of my favorite series by V. C. Andrews. It begins in the Willies, a mountain range in West Virginia. This is where Heaven Leigh Casteel has grown up in poverty for the past ten years, along with her four siblings (Tom, Fanny, Keith, and Our Jane), father and stepmother (Luke and Sarah), and grandparents. All nine family members share a pitiful cabin high above the small town of Winnerrow.One night, Heaven's grandmother takes her to the grave site of her real mother (Leigh VanVoreen, aka "Angel"), who had died shortly after giving birth to her. Leigh has always remained a mystery to Heaven (in fact, Heaven never knew she had a different mother other than Sarah), until her grandmother gives her Leigh's suitcase, which is filled with expensive items from her mother's previous life in Boston.After that revelation, Heaven vows to never confess her birth right to anyone, especially her siblings, who she wants to keep protected. She has a pretty good relationship with all of them, except for her younger sister, Fanny, who has always been a thorn in her side. Fanny's extremely jealous of her half-sister and basically makes Heaven's life hell. She even tries repeatedly to come between Heaven and her new boyfriend, Logan Stonewall (the son of a well-to-do pharmacist), but without any success.Even though their life is pretty pathetic so far, Heaven and her siblings receive one shock after another when their grandmother dies, and then Sarah (their stepmother) runs away after giving birth to a stillborn baby, which she believes was the result of Luke's infidelity. The biggest blow of all comes shortly after Sarah leaves, around Christmas time. Luke surprises everyone with an unthinkable Christmas present that will supposedly benefit the entire family: he intends to sell all five of his children for $500 a piece. Keith and Our Jane are the first to be "adopted". Fanny is next, taken in by Reverend Wayland Wise and his wife; then Tom, to a demanding farmer; and finally, Heaven, sold to an ex-lover of her father's (Kitty Dennison) and her submissive husband (Calhoun). Yet Cal is hardly a decent father. He would rather be Heaven's first lover than a role model. And Kitty isn't innocent of abuse either. She degrades Heaven with chemical baths and even turns her into a present-day Cinderella.As expected in all of V. C. Andrews' books, Heaven's life is full of trauma and secrets. But her story certainly doesn't end here. It continues with "Dark Angel" and "Fallen Hearts", then "Gates of Paradise" and "Web of Dreams", the two separate stories of her daughter (Annie) and her mother (Leigh). I highly recommend this book, as well as the four other books in the Casteel series.

I first read this book around 3 years ago, and I still read it, over and over again. What I found I really liked about this book was the characters, Heaven, Tom, Logan and Fanny. They were all so different, although you may dislike Fanny quite a lot, before you know it, your hooked. The other thing I really liked from this book and the whole series, was the style of writing. It was so wonderfull the way you get a movie-like vision while reading it. The best series she has written by far. It has a great storyline and strong/loveable characters. Virginia Andrews is a brilliant storyteller.

I HAVE READ MANY V.C. ANDREWS BOOKS SINCE THE TIME I WAS SIXTEEN YEARS OLD. BUT NONE OF THEM HAVE INTRIGUED AND FASINATED ME LIKE HEAVEN HAS. THE WAY THE WILLIES IS DESCRIBED THE PAIN AND THE HUNGER THE FAMILY WENT THROUGH CAN ACTUALLY PUT ME THERE IN MY IMMAGINATION. HEAVENS LIFE THROUGHOUT THE SERIES OF BOOKS IS ONE OF MANY STRUGGLES THAT ONE CAN HOPE FOR HER TO ACCOMPLISH. HEAVEN WAS THE FIRST V.C. ANDREWS BOOK THAT I HAD EVER READ AND I LOVED IT SO MUCH I JUST HAD TO READ MORE AND MORE OF HER NOVELS. NOW 27 YEARS OLD AND 4 WORN OUT HEAVEN BOOKS LATER I DECIDED TO NAME MY LAST DAUGHTER HEAVEN, AND I OFTEN WONDER IF MS. ANDREWS KNOWS WHAT AN EFFECT HER BOOK HAS ON PEOPLE TO MOVE THEM IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY WOULD WANT TO NAME A CHILD AFTER A BOOK COVER. JUST TO LET HER KNOW IF SHE WERE TO EVER READ THIS THAT I LOVE HER AND HER WORK AND WILL ALWAYS ENJOY READING HER NOVELS. THANK YOU