Flowers in the Attic.

I'm reading Flowers in the Attic right now. It's fairly depressing, actually. =/ You'd like to know what it's about? Well good, let me tell you.

This family of six lives in a nice little neighborhood in the '50s, and then suddenly (on his BIRTHDAY!) the father  of those four children and the husband to that wife, was hit by a car and died. The mother had grown up in a real socialite household, so she wasn't taught any practical skills, and therefore had no way of earning a living, since she couldn't do anything. But, as an act of desperation, she contacts her filthy rich parents (who despise her for some unknown reason), and asks if the children and she and come live with them for a while. The parents say yes.

Soon you find out that the reason they hate the mother so much, is because that guy she was married to (who was the father of their children and all that), was in fact, her half-uncle. Yes, sir. That made me cringe. But her parents are really, really religious, to the point where it's almost scary. So they despise her for that sinful marriage. The Mom's dad is dying very soon, and since he's a multi-trillionaire, she tries to win back his affections so that she is re-written into his will, as she is his only surviving heir and would get everything. However, the grandfather of those four, poor children, is a very mean dude, and if he knew that the woman had those children with her half-uncle, all efforts would be lost and they would have no place to live, no money, etc. So, the Grandmother allows the children to be locked in a very small room that leads up to the attic, so that they can be kept secret. Their mother assures them that they will only be there but a few days.

Their grandmother certainly is evil, but not nearly as much as the grandfather (obviously, since she is allowing them to be stowed away, and is keeping them secret.) But the grandmother gives them a boat-load of rules, most of which are ridiculous and pertain to her psychotic religious ideas. However, she brings them a tray of food every morning. But when she leaves their little,  tiny room every day, she locks them in so they can't escape in any way.

The room is very small, with a window that they can't open, nor can they open the curtains to let in sunlight (because the servants may see it), the room is dusty since it is never, ever used, and the air is stale. The children's mother, at first, visits them every day and tells them how sorry she is that they have to live that way, and she just keeps assuring them that they will not be in there long.

But then, their time in that small space turns into weeks, and then months. Right now where I am in the book (which is about half-way), the kids have been in there for 130 days. And the mom is starting to visit them less and less, and she's beginning to ignore them a bit.

So yeah, it's an interesting book so far. I like it, but I feel bad for the kids =( Poor things.