Forbidden Sister

This melodramatic first in the 20th series from the V.C. Andrews franchise (the author died in 1986) charts the travails of Emmie Wilcox as she attempts to locate and reconnect with her rebellious older sister, Roxy. When Emmie was six, her father Norton, a conservative New York investment banker, threw defiant 15-year-old Roxy out of the house and did all he could to obliterate every trace of the girl. Five years later, according to Emmie’s French mother, Norton learned that Roxy had become a high-priced call girl known as “Fleur du Coeur.” Emmie, who soon discovers that her “forbidden” sister is living in a nearby Manhattan hotel, endures a series of tragedies, ranging from a friend’s betrayal to her father’s death and her mother’s illness. Hardcore Andrews fans will best appreciate this saga of teenage angst, poverty and riches, bad fortune and good. Agent, Robin Rue, Writers House. (Feb.)