The Orphans series
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The Orphans is a novelized miniseries credited to V. C. Andrews, but ghostwritten by Andrew Neiderman. It focuses on the lives of four teenage girls and their lives as "orphans." The first four novels each focus on one of the four main characters, and the fifth book unites them and concludes their stories.
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[edit] Butterfly
Janet Taylor (aka Butterfly) is the first orphan girl introduced in the series. Little is said about her past, other than she was born prematurely, and has remained small and delicate her whole life, as well as shy. She is taken from her life at her orphanage by the rich couple Sanford and Celine Delorice. Sanford owns a glass factory, and Celine is confined to a wheelchair because of a drunk driving crash caused by her husband. At first, Celine spoils Janet with gifts and surprises and dazzles her with stories of how she was going to be a prima ballerina before the crash. Celine then enrolls Janet in a strict routine so that she may follow in Celine's footsteps. The hard routine quickly takes a toll on Janet, who's frail body cannot handle the hard ballet exercizes and prolonged practices. Celine becomes more and more obsessive and pushy as time goes on, especially because while it seems Janet "has potential" she is not progressing as quickly as Celine hopes. Janet is also sexually harassed by a ballet student who is hired to help Janet in her ballet lessons. By the time Janet is set to perform her first serious audition to a dance academy, her body finally gives out (this coincides with Janet's first menstrual cycle). When unable to go on, Celine is driven to insanity, and Sanford sends Janet to a foster home: Lakewood House.
[edit] Crystal
Crystal Perry is the second orphan girl in the series lineup. Crystal was born to a mental hospital patient who was impregnated by an unknown medical attendant. Crystal herself is extremely intelligent and analytical. She is adopted by Karl and Thelma Morris, a middle-class family in their early 30's, who chose to adopt due to infertility problems. Karl and Thelma seem to be good parents and Crystal quickly takes a cautious liking to them. However, soon she quickly picks up on how Karl and Thelma each seem to have their own obsessions which they follow religiously: Karl is obsessed with order, and Thelma is obsessed with telenovellas. At school, Crystal slowly makes friends, and has a potential boyfriend in Bernie, who is just as intelligent and science-obsessed as she. Meanwhile, Karl and Thelma seem to fall deeper and deeper into their obsessions as Thelma's mother dies and more family problems arise. Eventually, Karl and Thelma themselves are killed in a car wreck, and Crystal, not wanted by any of Karl's or Thelma's family, is sent back to the system, once again uprooted from her life, and she is taken from there to Lakewood House, and becomes Janet's roommate.
[edit] Brooke
Brooke Okun is the third orphan girl in the series. She was abandoned by her mother at age 2 and since then only has a faded pink ribbon she wears as a reminder of her past. Brooke is very athletic. She is taken in by Pamela and Peter Thompson. Peter is a convincing lawyer and spoils his wife rather than acts as the man of the house. Pamela is a beauty queen with a strict and overly obsessive beauty regimen which she quickly bestows upon Brooke. At first, Brooke is amazed at her new privileged life, but she quickly finds it harder and harder to say true to herself, especially in a snobby all-girls private school and at home, where Brooke's real talents are shoved aside in an attempt to transform her into a miniature version of Pamela. At school, Brooke's natural talent for softball comes through, and when Pamela realizes Brooke's "masculine" talent, she becomes increasingly desperate to flip Brooke around, which includes doing photo shoots, and teaching her piano, a skill Brooke simply cannot grasp. Eventually, Brooke is fed up with Pamela, and in an act of rebellion, cuts her hair off frustratingly. Pamela faints and possibly has a heart attack. Brooke is sent to Lakewood House and is then acquainted with Crystal and Janet.
[edit] Raven
Raven Flores is the last orphan in the series. Raven, unlike the previous three girls, lives with her drug-abusing, oblivious mother in a run-down apartment in the slums of her town. Raven has always been the subject of racial bigotry due to her father being Cuban, and Raven inheritng many Latina traits from him. One night, Raven is abruptly woken by her Uncle Reuben and told that her mother was arrested and will be sent to rehab and that Reuben is in charge of Raven. Raven is quickly whisked away and set to live in the sewing room of Reuben's house, along with his delicate wife Clara, and her cousins William and Jennifer. Clara and William are passive and quiet, and Reuben and Jennifer are loud and obnoxious, concerned only about their own reputations. Raven is forced to do many chores around the house while Jennifer sits around and does nothing. At this time, Raven becomes acquainted with William, although Reuben forbids Raven from entering his room. Jennifer quickly takes to causing trouble for Raven, including planting marijuana on Raven in school (although she cleverly hid it before she was caught). One night at a party, Jennifer becomes drunk and is possibly raped, and Raven is blamed by Reuben and beaten brutally with a belt. Things escalate from there, and Raven is beaten twice more and even sexually abused by Reuben. Raven also befriends a boy with a speech deformity, a kid who is always teased and tormented at school. One day, Raven goes over to his house, and his stepdad, mistakienly thinking Raven is seducing this boy, tells Reuben, who has had enough with Raven and beats her with a hairbrush. One day, her gym coach sees the welts on her legs, and Raven finally exposes Reuben's abusive behavior. Raven is taken to Lakewood House, where she becomes Brooke's roommate and friends with Crystal and Janet.
[edit] Runaways
This final novel connects the lives of the four orphan girls. It takes place several years after the last mini-novel, so all of the girls have gone from pre-teen age to near adulthood at 16 or 17 years old. The girls live at Lakewood House, under the sugary-sweet reign of Louise Tooey, and her frightful husband, Gordon. The house is hardly a resort. The girl's things are confiscated and can only be used when it is signed out by the owner, the rooms are no bigger than closets, and the food is horrible. Janet, who is still extremely fragile, is about to be adopted, when Brooke (this final book's narrator) discovers that Louise makes it so that no one can be adopted out of Lakewood. Later, Meg Callaway, a girl whom anatagonizes the girls, plants cigarettes in Janet's and Crystal's room to make trouble for them. The girls then decide to plan to run away, except Crystal, who isn't very keen on the subject. Brooke initiates the idea, and the girls set about making plans, including financial plans, travel, food, and where they are heading, California. Raven hopes to be a singer, Crystal plans to attend college out west. Janet wants to be a ballerina, and Brooke thinks her mother is in California. Eventually, Crystal finally agrees to the plan when Gordon sees her naked in the bathtub and attempts to touch her. The girls steal Gordon's car and drive off into the night, leaving a fake map behind with Meg (who thinks she can turn it in to Gordon and be a hero) to sent Gordon off in the wrong direction.
The girls then endure several travel obstacles on the road, including womanizing bikers, thieving hitchikers, and the threat of being caught by Gordon, who undoubtedly would wreak havoc on them if he found them. They also experience some good things on their trip, including hospitable older folks, a friendly black woman who owns a restaurant and gives the girls jobs so they can earn some money, and Brooke even falls in love with a garage owner's son named Todd. At one point, Crystal discovers a bag of cocaine under the seat of the car and dumps it along the side of the road so none of the girls would get caught with it, concluding that Gordon was a drug pusher on the side. At one point, after rescuing a man who has a heart attack on the side of the road, the police finally catch up with the four runaways and Gordon reclaims them. Gordon then demands to know where his cocaine is, and Crystal lies, saying it's buried in Pennsylvania. Knowing the lie would kill them all, the girls run away again and find themselves on a Navajo reservation and are looked after by Tommy and Anita Edwards, a Native American couple. Anita is a lonely woman who's lost her baby and has never been the same since, her mother's death, until Janet comes along.
In the end, Brooke marries Todd, Raven signs a record deal and has a small role in a movie, Crystal is a college graduate and plans to attend medical school, and Janet is adopted by Tommy and Anita and graduates herself from college with a degree in Social Work.
