The Orchid House (novel)

First edition

The Orchid House was a book published in 1953, and the only novel written by Dominican writer Phyllis Shand Allfrey. It is considered "a pioneering work of Caribbean literature".[1]

Originally published by Constable, it was reissued in 1982 by Virago Press, and reprinted in 1991 at the time its Channel 4 television adaptation of the same name came out (directed by Horace Ové and starring Elizabeth Hurley, Kate Buffery and Frances Barber).[2][3] An American edition of the novel appeared in 1996.

A French-language version, La Maison des Orchidées, appeared in 1954.[4]

Summary

Summarized in an Introduction by Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, "The novel, as narrated by the old nurse Lally, revolves around the return of three Creole sisters to their native island after years abroad: Stella, drawn to the lush tropical by an impassioned yearning; Joan, a grass-roots political activist in London; and Natalie, a wealthy old man's hedonistic widow..."[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Polly Pattullo, "Phyllis Alfrey: The Art of Living Together", Caribbean Beat, Issue 6 (Summer 1993).
  2. ↑ The Orchid House at the Internet Movie Database
  3. ↑ Staff, Hollywood.com. "The Orchid House | Movie | 1990". Hollywood.com. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  4. ↑ Biography of author Phyllis Shand Allfrey, The Orchid House (1991 reprint). London: Virago Modern Classics.
  5. ↑ Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, "Introduction" to Rutgers University Press edition, 1997, p. xix.

ISBN data

ISBN 1-85381-338-9 (paperback, Virago Press, 1991 reprint) ISBN 0-8135-2332-X (New brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1992)

External links


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