Relating the events that led to those in the horror series that began with "Flowers in the Attic," this novel introduces the young, dashing Malcolm Foxworth and his new wife, Olivia, and reveals why they became evil. Olivia dreamed of a sun-filled love, a happy life. Then she entered Foxworth Hall ... V.C. Andrews' thrilling new novel spins a tale of dreadful secrets and dark, forbidden passions-- of the time before "Flowers in the Attic" began. Long before terror flowered in the attic, thin, spinsterish Olivia came to Virginia as Malcolm Foxworth's bride. At last, with her tall handsome husband, she would find the joy she had waited for, longed for. But in the gloomy mansion filled with hidden rooms and festering desires, a stain of jealous obsession begins to spread ... an evil that will threaten her children, two lovely boys and one very special, beautiful girl. For within one innocent child, a shocking secret lives ... a secret that will taint the proud Foxworth name, and haunt all their lives forever!