Books › Heaven
Heaven
First published 1985 · 581 pages
A breathless, gothic soap opera of backwoods poverty, shocking betrayals, and a young girl's desperate clawing toward a better life.
What it feels like
Reading this book is like watching a slow-motion train wreck you cannot look away from. It pulls you into a vortex of relentless misery and fierce resilience, operating at a pitch of pure, addictive melodrama. The atmosphere is deeply oppressive, steeped in the grime of backwoods poverty and the claustrophobia of a family rotting from the inside out. Every page drips with breathless, purple prose that makes each slight, sorrow, and shocking betrayal feel monumental. It is a propulsive, emotionally exhausting experience that delights readers who crave dark, soapy sagas where the adults are monstrous, the secrets are heavily taboo, and the young protagonist's sheer will to survive is the only flickering light in a profoundly bleak world.
- Mood
- oppressive
- desperate
- claustrophobic
- soapy
- bleak
- Tone
- melodramatic
- earnest
- sensational
- breathless
- tragic
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- loss of innocence · inescapable family trauma · survival against cruelty · betrayal by caregivers · the illusion of wealth
- The writing
- Overwrought and highly emotive, characterized by breathless internal monologues and vivid, sensational descriptions of misery and longing.
- The arc
- Moves from desperate, impoverished hope through a gauntlet of shocking betrayals, culminating in a hardened, cynical resilience.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave dark, addictive family melodramas and gothic coming-of-age tales filled with shocking taboos and relentless tragedy.
Content notes
- child abuse
- sexual assault
- incest themes
- extreme poverty
- child abandonment
- domestic violence
About the book
Of all the folks in the mountain shacks, The Casteels were the lowest -- the scum of the hills.
Heaven Leigh Casteel was the prettiest, smartest girl in the backwoods, despite her ragged clothes and dirty face... despite a father meaner than ten vipers... despite her weary stepmother, who worked her like a mule. For her brother Tom and the little ones, Heaven clung to her pride and her hopes. Someday they'd get away and show the world that they were decent, fine and talented -- worthy of love and respect.
Then Heaven's stepmother ran off, and her wicked, greedy father had a scheme -- a vicious scheme that threatened to destroy the precious dream of Heaven and the children forever!
Deep in Her Heart, Heaven Dreamed....
Pa didn't come home for an entire week. I sat on the porch steps late one night and stared at the stormy sky. There had to be a better place than here for me. Somewhere, a better place. An owl hooted, followed by the howl of a roaming wolf. The autumn wind from the north shrieked and whistled around the forest trees, whipped around the trembling cabin and tried to blow it away....
I stared at the moon -- the same moon that rode high over Hollywood and New York City, London and Paris. Someday I'd like to have a real bed of my own to sleep in, with goosedown pillows and satin comforters. I'd have closets full of new dresses, and shoes by the dozen, in all colors, and I'd eat in fancy restaurants where tall slim candles glowed... but right now I had only a hard cold step to sit on. And tears were freezing on my cheeks and lashes....
Description from Open Library.
Books like Heaven
See why they match
Dark AngelVirginia C. AndrewsA deliciously dark and soapy descent into the poisoned glamour of a wealthy family's twisted secrets.
Gates of ParadiseVirginia C. AndrewsA breathless, gothic soap opera dripping with forbidden desires, dark family secrets, and the inescapable weight of generational curses.
Fallen HeartsV.C. AndrewsA breathless, gothic soap opera where immense wealth only serves to gild the cage of inescapable family sins.
Darkest HourAndrews VirginA feverish, gothic descent into the dark, scandalous heart of a fractured Southern family.
Hidden JewelVirginia AndrewsA sultry, tempestuous dive into the dark secrets and romantic awakenings of a family haunted by its own tainted legacy.
Secrets of the MorningV.C. AndrewsA deliciously dark and soapy descent into shattered innocence, where every glimmer of hope is shadowed by a twisted family secret.