V C Andrews - The Cutler Series Bk 5 - Darkest Hour

Darkest Hour (The Cutler Family series) by V. C. Andrews


Description

The fifth book featuring the Cutler family, this book takes readers back to the story of Dawn's grandmother Lillian, and a thriving plantation called "The Meadows". Lillian's happy life is shattered when her sister Emily reveals the secret of her birth and claims that she is evil. Growing up on the thriving plantation called The Meadows, Lillian Booth cherishes the brightest, happiest dreams....When tragedy befalls her best friend, Lillian is convinced that what her Bible-thumping sister Emily has said about her is true--that she is evil.This was a good insight into what happened to Lillian at an early age and what made her behave so ruthlessley towards her grandaughter Dawn in the Cutler Series. It was a good book all the way through but I did feel that the ending was slightly cut short - there were only two chapters on what happened to Lillian once she had married Bill Cutler which I felt could have been carried on a bit longer.

Lillian's world is full of grand parties, of sunshine and promises, as thrilling as the fairy tales Mama spins for her and her little sister, Eugenia. No one, not even her cold, stern Papa and her Bible spouting sister Emily, can crush her spirits -- until the day Emily reveals the shattering secret at Lillian's birth, a secret Mama sadly cannot deny. Still Lillian refuses to believe Emily's hateful claim that she is evil, a curse...even when sweet, gentle Eugenia loses her fragile hold on life, and Mama retreats further into her fantasies. But when tragedy befalls her best friend, the one boy whose tender heart mirrors her own, Lillian comes to believe Emily's grim words. Meekly, she endures her penance, finding a strange solace in the endless repetition of prayers in a room stripped of all comforts. Lillian's heart is torn anew when, in a drunken haze, Papa subjects her to the most brutal degradation. Then Papa loses The Meadows in a card game, and Lillian is faced with a new and terrifying prospect. Arrogant, handsome playboy Bill Cutler will return the plantation -- if Lillian will marry him! Now Lillian must leave her girlhood home behind, and make a bold new beginning as the mistress of a hotel called Cutler's Cove...