What is the setting of Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews?

The novel begins in a lovely, middle-class home in 1950s Pennsylvania. This home is comfortable, clearly the home of a loving family. The feeling of this home is open, light, and happy. Later, however, the setting changes when the father is killed and the mother sneaks her children into her childhood home in the hopes of tricking her father into making her his sole heir. The children are placed in a small room that is overcrowded with furniture, a forgotten room at the end of a deserted corridor in a very large, wealthy home. This room has access to the attic, a large, dusty area the children are able to use as a playroom. This setting is much darker than the first setting, creating a contrast between the before and after of these children's lives.