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If There Be Thorns
First published 1981 · 527 pages
A deliciously dark and soapy descent into a family's poisoned legacy, where buried secrets refuse to stay hidden.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like watching a slow-motion trainwreck through a cracked, gothic stained-glass window. It is a masterclass in claustrophobic melodrama, wrapping the reader in an atmosphere of mounting dread and soapy, irresistible tension. The narrative simmers with the weight of inescapable family sins, pulling you into a deeply unsettling psychological space where innocence is weaponized and the past is a living, breathing monster. The prose is breathless and overwrought in the best possible way, perfectly suited to the intense, confessional dual perspectives that drive the story. It is a deliciously dark, guilt-ridden indulgence that will captivate readers who love their family sagas steeped in taboo, paranoia, and generational trauma.
- Mood
- claustrophobic
- dread-soaked
- unsettling
- gothic
- Tone
- melodramatic
- ominous
- confessional
- intense
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- generational trauma · inescapable past · sibling rivalry · corruption of innocence · dark family secrets
- The writing
- Overwrought and highly emotive, leaning heavily into gothic melodrama and breathless internal monologues.
- The arc
- Moves from an uneasy domestic facade into a spiraling descent of paranoia, manipulation, and explosive revelations.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave deliciously dark, soapy family sagas filled with taboo secrets and psychological manipulation.
Content notes
- incest themes
- child manipulation
- religious fanaticism
- animal cruelty
- emotional abuse
About the book
If There Be Thorns is a novel by Virginia Andrews which was published in 1981. It is the third book in the Dollanganger series. The story takes place in the year 1982.
The book is narrated by two half-brothers, Jory and Bart Sheffield. Jory is a handsome, talented young man who wants to follow his mother Cathy in her career in the ballet, while Bart, who is unattractive and clumsy, feels he is outshone by Jory. By now, Cathy and Chris live together as common-law husband and wife. To hide their history, they tell the boys and other people they know that Chris was Paul's younger brother. Unable to have more children, Cathy secretly adopts Cindy, the daughter of one her former dance students, who was killed in an accident, because she longs to have a child that is hers and Chris's. Initially against it, Chris comes to accept the child.
Lonely from all the attention Jory and Cindy are receiving, Bart befriends an elderly neighbor that moved in next door, who invites him over for cookies and ice cream and encourages him to call her "Grandmother." Jory also visits the old lady next door, and she reveals that she is actually his grandmother. Jory initially doesn't believe her, and avoids her at all costs. The old woman and Bart, on the other hand, soon develop an affectionate friendship, and the woman does her best to give Bart whatever he wants, provided that Bart promises to keep her gifts—-and their relationship-—a secret from his mother.
Description from Open Library.
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