Garden of Shadows is a novel by V. C. Andrews and was first published in 1987. V. C. Andrews died in 1986, and her estate commissioned ghostwriter Andrew Neiderman to continue writing novels under her name developed from plot outlines originally written by Andrews. There is some dispute over whether this particular novel was written in part by Andrews before she died, or whether it was written entirely by Niederman. This is the fifth and final novel of the Dollanganger series. The novel explains the origin of Olivia Winfield (the grandmother from Flowers in the Attic) and the events that cause her to become the cold, domineering mistress of Foxworth Hall and how Corinne's childhood and eventual betrayal come about. The story takes place between the years of 1918-1957.