Kiernan Shipka, Mad Men‘s Sally Draper, will take on the role as young female lead in Lifetime’s original movie adaptation of V.C. Andrews’ 1979 “Flowers in the Attic”, according to Deadline.

The controversial best-selling book described by Deadline is about a “gothic tale of four young siblings, two boys and two girls, who, after the tragic death of their father, are subjected to cruel emotional and physical abuse resulting from a dark, long-hidden family secret.”

Heather Graham (Scrubs) will play the abandoning mother Corrine leaving her children succeptible to further abuse by their grandmother Olivia due to a disturbing family secret leading her to lock the children in the attic of her mansion. Ellen Burstyn (Political Animals) will play the grandmother.

The oldest boy (Mason Dye, The Secret Diary of an American Cheerleader) and girl (Shipka) form a relationship as they “come of age emotionally and physically while caring for their younger brother and sister, their family’s sordid past entraps them further as they try to survive and escape from the harsh conditions in which they live,” according to Deadline.

Kayla Alpert (“Up All Night”) will be writting the film and Deborah Chow will be directing, according to The Huffington Post.