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"According to the accounts, which we've recorded, there was a motorist driving a blue Ford weaving in and out of the lefthand lane, apparently drunk, and he crashed head-on into your husband's car. But it seems your husband must have seen the accident coming, for he swerved to avoid a head-on collision, but a piece of machinery had fallen from another car, or truck, and this kept him from completing his correct defensive driving maneuver, which would have saved his life. But as it was, your husband's much heavier car turned over several times, and still he might have survived, but an oncoming truck, unable to stop, crashed into his car, and again the Cadillac spun over . . . and then . . . it caught on fire."

For our July bonus we're going back to the musty beach bookstore in our hearts and talking about those wacky Dollangangers. Many of you asked for this episode after Carmen and I dove into Go Ask Alice last year, and it's possible we had an even better time talking about this book. 

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Comments

JS

Ooo this is gonna be bonkers

Freddy Ray

Yes yes yes I'm ALIVE with excitement rn

JenGelfling

I feel as if I have been waiting for this episode my whole entire life ✨️💖✨️

Cassandra Sedore-Schulz

I read this book for the first time when i was 9 years old, picked up from my mother's bookshelf. Rereading it in college, years after cutting contact, I noticed that it was dedicated to her mother and thought it was incredible the same way I find it shocking that my mother had no issue with me reading it at such a young age.

Jen

Not sure I’ve ever recovered from that book series. Why, WHY did anyone think it was appropriate reading for tweens and teens? Oh right, it was the 80’s and no one cared.

winter

just started listening and already yelling about the pin mention which i could truly talk about for HOURS.

Nicola Callahan

This is really great! But could we get a better mic on Carmen? It was difficult to hear her in parts.

Karen Gleisberg

I read this series in the back of my public library when I was supposed to be doing research because I was absolutely NOT allowed to read this. I often think back and marvel that this book was even available.

Kathleen Fogarty

Omg just finished this book last night, it was horrifying I could not put it down

Cate Kneale

I haven't read this book since the eighties but at the same time it's one of my formative experiences. So I'm looking forward to finding out why I'm like this. Can you please also do Lace? I feel that was one of my earliest exposures to feminism. Of a kind. The kind with bitches.

Amanda Lyman

AHHHH! Every girl in my sixth and seventh grade class was reading this, but it freaked me out too much. Heard so many bits and excerpts at that time that I feel like I actually read it

Jennifer

This is one of three books my mother forbade me from reading while growing up. The other two were IT and Clan of the Cave Bear. Having read IT on the sly, and now heard about Cave Bear & Flowers in the Attic (but not having read either of them), I can confidently say my mother's judgment was sound.

Maxi Mailloux

I'm thrilled for this episode! I read these books FAR too young and have carried them with me ever since. Thank you!!

Bunny

I read my first VC Andrews when I was 14. It was Haven and I bought it at a flea market. I had trouble learning to read and it was the first long book that I read. I think it only took a week. After that you couldn’t stop my love for reading. I loved the conversation. Thank you. I’m thinking.”Yeah, this explains a lot. I need some therapy.”

Nemo

R.I.P. VC Andrews you would have loved AO3

es arg

have literally never been more excited to listen to anything ever. ohohohohoho

Matthew Nelson

I have been waiting (not so) patiently all summer for the book club and when it was announced CMM was being the guest I was super excited! Her laugh is everything! Love you both and the Book Club. (Still searching garage sales for my copy of Michelle Remembers, by the way.🤣)

Leepeesa

I remember this being the first book over 100 pages I read at 12. Sitting in the hallway before class at high-school, and took 3 days to read the mattress part. I was hooked!

Leepeesa

Also as a teen always said I'd name my son Troy after the Heaven series, till I meet a Troy and he was an absolute cakehole. So son was named after a different Heaven character not Cal!

Jeanne Dolan

I’m 14 again in Freshman HS Latin Class in 1979 with the back row talking about Flowers in the Attic, incest and certain Roman Emperors we learned about the year before from watching I Claudius. (We could watch it because it was PBS!)

Kelly Stiver

Clan of the Cave Bear I think is actually good, but the following books just increase in cave porn as they go on

Leepeesa

Nah ended up with a Logan.

Kayla

This is SO good more books with Carmen eps!

Amyla Keyes

That car crash scene taking me right to Jason Statham's dramatic action sequence description in Spy, esp the "on fire" part. XD

Corrina Wynne

Delighted to have the summer book club back!

Rebecca Perry

The car crash scene is very much like the "All I need is...and this lamp!" sequence in The Jerk with Steve Martin.

Em Buktenica

I don’t know this book at all so you’re saying “Flowers in the Attic” and I’m thinking “Flowers for Algernon” and it took a minute to figure out my brain’s mistake 😂

Xingcat

This was so good! I’d love a deep dive into more of the VC Andrews canon!

Diana M

Talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic. "Lori Vallow is the real life mom from Flowers in the attic." Discuss.

Sunny

Having never heard of this book (not from the US), I would have loved to hear more of actual text from the book, since judging by the car crash scene the prose is awesomely bonkers! Could have listened much longer!

Kaitie

Loves this! Would love to hear you two go into the whole Dollenganger saga, or other VC Andrews books, or even the Lifetime movie adaptations (incredible imo).

Elizabeth Gunn, sickly but cruel

I had to pause We Have Always Lived in the Castle because it was feeling a little too close to home (hah) for me in this moment and I fled here for a breather, LIKE A FOOL. Gothic horror, gothic horror (to the tune of Black and Yellow, please).

Juliette

Would love to hear you do My Sweet Audrina. I think it's one of her best.

Stephanie Fornasier

VC Andrews was my holiday reading in highschool. I’m so excited to hear this!

Liz

I love the reach of this book. It was passed around by every pubescent girl when I was young in California. I mentioned the title to my partner (from the UK) and - although he never read it - he was immediately able to describe the cover in detail. I also had totally mis-framed the sex scene in my memory. Yikes.

Jen

Whoa boy, I was not prepared for the opening convo about Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. As a Gen X 🇨🇦 woman, this story has been seared into my brain and not in a good way - I can still see her dead-eyed stare on the cover of MacLean’s magazine. I’ve been wondering if Sarah was familiar with them - it would make an interesting (yet extremely triggering) episode.

Maddy

Literally read this book last week in preparation for this episode 🫡 Unfortunately now I am curious about the rest of the series and want to keep reading. Like it’s not good. But it is. And I’m a real messy bitch who lives for the drama.

Jessamyn Harris

dream guest doing dream book review ahhhh!!! So stoked!

Jessamyn Harris

I read this book along with The Shining circa 1996, when I was 17 years old and flying to Europe for the first time ever (from California - it's such a long flight!) for a month of being a French exchange student. Needless to say, I didn't sleep a wink on the flight, then accidentally fell asleep in the hotel during my first day there, causing horrible jet lag. And I still can't say which book was more disturbing - Flowers in the Attic or the Shining.

Ren

Speaking directly to me with references to Joanna Russ and also talking about how the first Boxcar Children book is INCREDIBLE and the rest don't matter. (Also, the "past isn't dead" quote is Faulkner. Southern gothic ftw, as we used to say.)

Molly Wynne Stonesifer

Just last week, I was explaining to my partner the glory that is a VC Andrew Prequel! He thought you should read a prequel before the rest of the series (ie, read the books chronologically). And I was taking the stance of publication order and the fact that the whole purpose of a prequel is to give context and make you reconsider what you’ve already read. I honestly said, “It’s like you’ve never read a VC Andrews series!!” At which point I had to explain the whole series to him, and what you find out in Garden of Shadows. 😱

Nicole F.

Thanks for the swimming reminder, Caroline!

Jen

Oddly enough this episode is the second discussion of The Boxcar Children I’ve heard on podcasts this week!

Rebecca M

I was NOT allowed to read this book, so my best friend in the 6th grade checked it out of the library for me and I kept it hidden in my backpack when I was at home. I'm pretty sure my mom figured it out. For ladies from the US of a certain age this book was a right of passage read, I remember being in a conversation where everyone who had been in middle school in the 80's all knew it and everyone younger was wondering what we were talking about.

Brenda Taulbee

I’ve never hit play on an episode so fast!! I distinctly remember my mom recommending this book to me because it was HER FAVORITE AS A CHILD. I was 8 years old 😳 I’ve read it a handful of times, but only once as an adult. Never again.

Jean Hope

Really enjoyed this episode, will be reading the book as mentioned as well as investigating what your guest speaker has written 🙏🏻🩷

Kaya Cox

I was really hoping for a summer book club like go ask Alice where you take a few episodes and really get into it :( good episode I guess I just had my expectations set wrong

Elisha Stauffer

This series is reminding me of the little paperback that haunted me as a young teen, I never promised you a rose garden by Hannah Green. It was marketed as semi autobiographical which was the best of both worlds for mixing up reality with horror.

Nicole Mensch

My parents never read, except for the readers digests that stayed on the back of the toilet. So imagine my surprise when I found 2 books shoved in the back of a rarely used bureau. One was this book & the other was Helter Skelter. Sheltered little 6th grade me was in for quite the shock.

Jeanne H-B

Ah, “cave porn” (I only read the first one, and wanted to be an herbalist for a couple days, but that is the only trace it left on me. I think it is very cool that the success of Clan allowed Jean Auel to travel to archeological sites and hang with the cool nerds.)

Sarah S

The only VC Andrews I read in my teens was my sweet Audrina. I wasn't allowed to watch many movies or much TV so it's likely this was the first time I encountered rape in a fiction story. I didn't remember anything about the book but when I saw you were doing a VC Andrews I knew it was going to be wild. Thanks for the great discussion!

Jessica Manzo

Enjoyed this so much! Reading this was such a formative experience when I was in middle school. My best friend and I each read it, devoured the sequels, then plenty of Andrews' other books. We were obsessed with these crazy stories!

Robert Gougher

Summer of Fear / Killing Mr Griffin by Lois Duncan Witch’s Sister by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Wrinkle in Time etc by Madeline L’Engle Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles By Julie Andrews

Diana MiLLer

Carmen’s laugh is so delightful. Carmen please continue to visit the pod!!

Georgie Lewis

@sarah I bought Carmen’s devastating, beautiful memoir yesterday and have just finished it. She is incredible! Sending much love & appreciation to the both of you. Keep laughing! 🥰

Megen porter

I'm voting dollhouse murders. I'm also needing a follow up on the free feed with Chelsey about the Nixon Thurmond seances!!! What?!!

Christina Austin

I never read the book but my sister and I did watch the movie several times. I’d be curious to hear what Sarah and Carmen think of the movie.

Bethany K

I was looking through all the comments to see someone else mention this! I’m super curious based on this, if Sarah’s been researching for an episode or piece. Her radical empathy would be a very interesting take (albeit possibly controversial?? They really are hated).

Kayla Duran

So a bit on Chris I'm one of his few semi defenders. Not defending the sexual assault part but his character outside of that act. In terms of him being unable to see their mother in the same way Cathy does, it's very clear that Chris even more so than you can argue with Cathy and her father, has been groomed by his mother. The mother is with them all the time as children and even before his death the father is absent due to his work and when he's away she very much uses Chris as a surrogate of his father and that only intensifies when their father dies. He trusts their mother. And if we role reversed it and say it was their father who was doing what the mother did I think Cathy would not be as determined that what is happening to them is wrong and would act much like Chris did. Also a large point of the twins death is that Christopher is this intelligent character who knows best, thats how is painted and is always right about things throughout the book, like how to get out of the room and steal but not too much as to not raise too much suspision. But the death of Cory is supposed to be where Chris's inability to see their mother's cruelty fully and run away is supposed to be this tragedy of the one time he is seriously wrong and Cathy was fully right and had he listened could have saved Cory's life. And it's basically a failure of Chris's intelligence which is more book smarts based. And that's something Cathy throws in Chris's face in an argument in a later book. Also the reason why the grandmother put tar in Cathy's hair rather than cut it herself is cause wanting Cathy's hair gone was only part of it. She wanted Chris specifically to cut it as a wound to both of them.

Hailey Dahl

Could you imagine being the other twin? Your twin brother dies and your two older siblings are fucking? I literally can’t imagine a worse situation

lilb

Beautiful episode about a book i never read but saw the cover of in every secondhand bookstore of my childhood, Sarah's conclusion was very apt and made me well up with tears.

Priya

Please make the “Reading is Just Shame Leaving the Body” t-shirt. I would wear that until it hung off my back in rags.

Emily

Paul Bernardo/Karla Holmoka were active in St Catharines when my cousins (same profile as his victims/Karla) were teenagers and they went looking for the girls. My aunts and uncles are still truly so affected from it. It's also layered with that he was committing up to 100s of rapes in a then suburb of Toronto (Scarborough). When he escalated I think that's when he got caught. He also is our lowest count for more than likely racist reasons. Like Toronto exploded with anger over Bruce McArther (only was caught because he murdered a white man), and Robert Picton ruined pigs for everyone.

Emily

Related fiction spooky book recommendation: The Devil You Know by Elisabeth de Mariaffi. It's set in Toronto/St Catharines ft a young journalist using LexisNexis... the descriptions of Toronto are really vivid and it feels really grounded in the city.

ES

I love YWA and this is a great episode, but PLEASE work on your sound leveling. I am hard of hearing, and the episodes since Michael Hobbes left are noticeable less accessible to me. I suspect Carmen’s sound equipment was lackluster here and I know there’s not much you can do about that, but please, please do something. Both people’s volume needs to match, at the very least. Please don’t make me max out my sound to hear the guest and then get an instant migraine when Sarah’s voice comes back. I’m sorry to be critical but there have been several episodes now that I’ve really, really struggled with, and I’ve just skipped most of the ones with Carolyn because it was so bad.

LM

I mostly know about VC Andrews from a couple librarian pals and from the Teen Creeps podcast (YA pulp fiction), and I love reading it vicariously through you all <3

Valerie Jones

Keep the incest train chugging! Hotel New Hampshire pls book or film

Brittani Killgo

You win Sarah, after listening to every episode of you're wrong about that exists I had to come to patreon solely because you hid this episode in it. By age 9 I had already devoured every v.c. Andrews book published, and by chance this was the one I chose to share with another third grade child who was out of books to read. For this kindness I was no longer allowed to bring books to school or keep books in my desk, and only many years later did I understand why. Good times. Thanks for keeping me company every day for two years while I drive an 80000 lb torpedo across the Midwest.

Brittani Killgo

Hahahaha my mom owned every single vc Andrews book and I read it and shared it with another third grader... His mom found him reading it and neither of us understood why we were in trouble ☠️

Brittani Killgo

Listen... All her books are like this. Try my sweet audrina. So messy. So dark. And it's a one off not a series.

R.E. Beaulieu

The way I CLAPPED MY HANDS when Carmen mentioned liking ONLY THE FIRST BOOK of the boxcar children. Too much of my brain space was taken up by that waterfall icebox. FOLLOWED BY MIXED UP FILES. I still want to live in the museum....

Charisma Teeth

There needs to be a support group for early readers of VC Andrews. I count myself as one of them. Hey, a lot of children were unsupervised during the 70s and 80s. I found the collection in a bag in my mom's bedroom, and they were among the first books I ever read. I think it made me weird in ways I couldn't describe until years later.