My Sweet Audrina
First edition cover
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| Author | V. C. Andrews |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Gothic horror |
| Publisher | Pocket Books |
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Publication date
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1982 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 416 p. |
| ISBN | |
My Sweet Audrina is a 1982 novel by V. C. Andrews. It was the only standalone novel published during Andrews' lifetime and was a number one best-selling novel in North America. The story takes place in the Southeastern United States during the 1960s—1970s. The story features diverse real-world subjects such as brittle bone disease, rape, posttraumatic stress disorder, diabetes, and autism in the haunting setting of a Victorian era mansion near the fictitious River Lyle.
Audrina Adare claims she is seven years old when the novel opens, although it is later revealed that Audrina's memory is unreliable. Audrina lives at Whitefern, a Victorian Era mansion, with her father Damian, mother Lucietta, her aunt Ellsbeth and her cousin Vera. The family takes special care to keep Audrina unaware of precise dates, including that of her own birthday—although Audrina knows she was born on the ninth of September, she is frequently confused about the exact passage of time, leading Vera to mock her for being insane. Audrina's father, however, is convinced that Audrina "walks in her own time space." Nine years before Audrina was born, her elder sister—also named Audrina and also born on September the ninth—was raped and murdered in the woods on her ninth birthday. Damian tells her stories about his "first and best Audrina" and convinces the younger Audrina that, by a process of self-hypnosis (which includes going into the first Audrina's old bedroom and rocking in her rocking chair), she can gain all of her memories and become just as beloved and special as she was, which is what Audrina wants more than anything else in the world.
Audrina lives in virtual isolation, her only real contact with the outside world being her older cousin, Vera, who despises Audrina. Vera claims that Audrina stole her place in Damian's affection and that the "second and worst" Audrina will never be as special or wonderful as the first and best. Vera, a habitual liar and borderline nymphomaniac, proves early on that she will stop at nothing to take anything that Audrina loves. Audrina, conversely, is haunted by dreams of her dead sister's rape and is terrified of sex and men. Vera takes great pleasure in taunting Audrina, and is hell-bent on gaining Damian's affections, such as constantly breaking bones to catch attention, which bothers Audrina a great deal.
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