The Orchid House

by Phyllis Shand Allfrey

Lally helps to raise three white sisters in the Orchid House on the Island of Dominica and observes as each flees to the cold northern lands of England and America only to return to their magical past and the man they love.

Genres: Fiction, Ebooks, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phyllis Shand Allfey was born on the island of Domenica and this novel is said to have been based on her own early life. Born into an elite white family she nevertheless saw herself as a West Indian, and was a socialist activist, journalist and Dominican politician. She also wrote several collections of poetry and a collection of short stories.

The story is largely narrated by Lally, the ageing Dominican nurse who supervised the growing up of three white, Creole sisters at Maison Rose with their mother and war damaged father, in the years following the First World War. Maison Rose is a house is full of characters, Christophine the cook, her son Baptiste, her daughter Olivet and Buffon the boatman – who have all been around the family for years. The house is steeped in memories for Lally, memories of when Miss Stella, Miss Joan and Miss Natalie were children, waiting their father’s return from the war, playing with their childhood friend Andrew. Now Lally’s working days should be at an end, but she can’t resist one last return to Maison Rose when she hears the young ladies she cared for in their infancy are returning.

Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/...

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Joan paused on the threshold, for a beautiful thing was holding her prisoner there. Just outside the orchid house was a frosted pink hibiscus bush, one of the rare ones which Old Master cultivated. A little fou-fou humming-bird had chosen the largest and most perfect of flowers to drain its sweetness. The flower was three times larger than the bird which was only like a flashing black-and-emerald moth. The bird was fluttering and humming at such a speed that it seemed to lie still along the bright warm air, its tiny claws curled up; its long sharp bill was deep in the bedecked trumpet of the hibiscus. Seconds and seconds it remained suspended there, appearing rigid, then like a drunken spirit it reeled away and wiped the sword of its beak on some lichen. Shocked by this exquisite sight, Miss Joan sighed deeply and sat down again.

[Francisca · Rating 3 out of 5]

En este clásico de la literatura antillana, ubicada en Dominica, una pequeña isla de las Antillas Británicas, tenemos la vida de unos personajes que ilustran las diferentes tradiciones del lugar y de sus culturas: la amerindia, la francesa, la británica y la africana. Es una novela diáfana que transcurre como transcurrirían los días en una pequeña localidad y que se nos presenta traducida en España por primera vez por la editorial Cátedra.

Importan sobre todo las descripciones sobre el clima, sobre los lugares. Es una novela dulce y limpia que está llena de sensaciones y pensamientos. Es, ante todo, una novela costumbrista que nos detalla a cada personaje, que nos traslada a unas tradiciones de trasfondo colonialista. Pero, sobre todo, lo que importa es el amor en esta novela. Hallamos significancias y significados sobre él: “Nunca me haría con el significado que había detrás de una conversación, ni con su intención”, dirá uno de sus personajes principales.

Estamos, principalmente, con una novela que rezuma olores, huellas táctiles, sentimientos, indagaciones en el pasado y en el presente para ver un futuro esclarecedor. Pero es sobre todo esta novela una novela sísmica. Va temblando, como un terremoto con sus réplicas, a través de su flora y su fauna. Son bellísimas las descripciones que Phyllis nos muestra. En ellas podemos apreciar el frío y blancor de la nieve, el pelaje de un conejo, las flores y arbustos que se nos presentan, la belleza de un paisaje o el aroma a mar que despierta la isla.

Sin duda estamos ante una novela de costumbres que alude a una frescura nueva en la literatura de las antillas. Phillys Shand fue la primera mujer que publicaría allí, y vaya si se nota. Me gusta sobre todo cómo indaga en las tradiciones de cada cultura, cómo cada personaje nos muestra unos valores o unas vivencias y experiencias que detallan la vida del lugar. Se escucha en esta novela un rumor: el rumor del tiempo. Del cómo va pasando. Del cómo esa casa de orquídeas a.k.a llamada L'aromatique es ante todo una novela de pureza de sensaciones y pensamientos. Todo es claro, limpio y elocuente. Todo rige por una prosa descriptiva que es bastante no-convencional sobre lo que podemos conocer.

Es, La casa de las orquídeas, una novela sobre las andanzas de unos personajes que quieren futuro, que miran al pasado, que buscan y buscan en eso llamado amor y esperanza. Hay, especialmente, un deje colonial que podemos oler, escuchar y apreciar en todo su esplendor. Es con toda su ligereza un sismo y un rumor, una tempestad y también una calma. Nos ponemos nerviosos leyéndola pero a la vez nos quita esa ansiedad inherente al ser humano que se nos cuela en los días cotidianos.

[Ricardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reto de lectura 2021: Autores del Caribe (10 de 12)

Una novela muy corta pero hermosa que habla, como varios de los textos de este reto de lectura, acerca de la descolonización y el surgimiento de nuevas clases sociales en el Caribe, pero que tiene la particularidad de estar narrada desde la perspectiva de las antiguas élites blancas venidas a menos. En realidad es complicado hablar de una única trama ya que la propia estructura de la novela la divide en tres partes muy diferenciadas dedicadas a tres hijas que vuelven a la casa de su niñez, cada una con una carga vital y unos objetivos muy distintos, pero con el punto en común de querer rescatar aquello que en su momento perdieron. Es un texto muy interesante que peca quizá de ser demasiado corto y de terminar justo cuando parece que va a concretar algo importante. Aún así me ha gustado.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand it’s an interesting exploration of the changes that occur within a white family living on a tropical island (Dominica, though I don’t believe it is expressly stated in the book) as the politics and times are changing. On the other, the white author chose to tell the story through the eyes of Lally, a servant to the white family, which feels like a problematic choice, particularly as she ascribes a deep love of the family to Lally. Depictions of poverty, racism, crime and the power of the church are confronting. There’s definitely nuance in the writing, the characters are interesting and the story moves along, so I’ve landed on 3 stars as a rating - readable and at times interesting.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me forever to read this book because I just couldn't get into it. It kind of reminded me of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness because of the Master figure in the house full of women. There were a lot of interesting things going on with gender roles, as well as an interesting setting, but the book just didn't do it for me.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three sisters, who have grown up on Dominica come back to their family to home one by one. They are aware of the tragedy of their parents' lives, and change the lives of those around them.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty language, a decent plot, and realistically flawed characters made this book an enjoyable read. I loved the language describing the beauty of the island: "The fireflies were encouraged by the rain and came out in their hundreds, settling on the orange groves like shining blossoms, diamond-flowers." "Miss Joan paused on the threshold, for a beautiful thing was holding her prisoner there. Just outside the orchid house was a frosted pink hibiscus bush, one of the rare ones which Old Master cultivated. A little fou-fou humming-bird had chosen the largest and most perfect of flowers to drain its sweetness. The flower was three times larger than the bird which was only like a flashing black-and-emerald moth. The bird was fluttering and humming at such a speed that it seemed to lie still along the bright warm air, its tiny claws curled up; its long sharp bill was deep in the bedecked trumpet of the hibiscus. Seconds and seconds it remained suspended there, appearing rigid, then like a drunken spirit it reeled away and wiped the sword of its beak on some lichen. Shocked by this exquisite sight, Miss Joan sighed deeply and sat down again."
I also appreciated how the three women were different in their behaviors and worldviews, each one is complex and told with obvious, though perhaps rose-tinted, love from nurse Lally's perspective. "...my life had changed colour three times: the green world of the island, the straight grey world of New York, and now the white world of Maine in winter." "Her eyes searched the sea so often that they were turning sea-colour." "...I have an open mind--Lally thinks it is a vacant one, I'm certain... empty anyhow. I just do what is expected of me."
Wise old Lally is a realist in practice, except when it comes to those girls; she passes moderate judgment on the other inhabitants of the island while letting her girls run amok with the christening gown and with Andrew: "I found human beings bad enough and good enough without having to look around for devils in the shadows and angels in the Methodist chapel." "Uncle Rufus could not have worn more blatantly the air of one who had backed the right horse and who was now determined to abolish all forms of betting." The girls could do wrong, but Lally would love and support them anyway: "She looked at me straight, and if ever there was something to show the difference in the girls, it was their tears. Miss Stella's were hot loving wild tears, Miss Joan's were shamed drops quickly brushed off, but Miss Natalie's tears were slow unwilling pear-drops of glass that rolled untended down her cheeks and broke on her dress."

[Sharon Hopper · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written in the 1950s and republished in 1990. It takes place in the early part of the 20th Century. The setting for the story is the Caribbean island of Dominica. The women in this story are portrayed as strong and the men are portrayed as weak. The point of view of the story is told by Lally, the native “nanny” that cares for the three upper class Creole girls as they grow up and later as they return to the island from different lives in America and England, two of them with small sons. Old passions are reignited, political advocacy and unrest occur as many of the natives are still portrayed as slaves and social standing is decided by the lightness or darkness of skin. I can imagine that the impact of the story was much greater in the 1950s as compared to the 1990s, although the lessons are as current. There ere times when the plot was difficult to follow and points not developed or completed. The description of the tropical island was so beautiful, I could smell the orange blossoms, lime oil and vanilla plants.

[Avani Ghosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think a lot of things in my life lined up for this to be an amazing read right now, but it genuinely felt like a breath of fresh air during spring.

This novel is about 3 white, Creole sisters who each return to their house in the Caribbean at separate times for different reasons like love, activism or money. They also grapp;e with their family living in poverty. The story is about West Indian politics and how power structures were amended to bring justice to the Caribbean people in the 1950s.

It’s a powerful political story, but I also found it to be very “Little Women”-esque in the way these themes are explored through domesticity. There’s also a lot of floral imagery in this and I spent a lot of time in a flower shop right before reading this, which I think amplified how much I liked it. The nature imagery is really powerful in this one 9/10

[Zhelana · Rating 1 out of 5]

i have absolutely no clue what this book was about. choices were made in writing it, and they were not good choices. In short, the entire story is told through conversations and no actual action happens, and that is boring as fuck. Even when something big happened you learned about it from conversations with side characters or some weird thing. and the entire thing had the sense of high school kids gossiping, which i don't find interesting at all and kind of tone out. i kept waiting for some kind of action, but it never happened. So i literally read this entire book but every time i had to sum up what was going on I wrote "I have lost track of this book" because i couldn't connect one chapter to the next, and i couldn't even figure out who the main characters were. In short, don't bother. i only finished because of my read the world challenge.

[ShellsReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant clever beautifully written sparkling with life.

A brief snapshot of one family in Dominica under British rule in the declining days of the Empire.

Strong but very different women dominate the Orchid House. The male characters are either weak or foolish or in declining health like the Empire itself. The three sisters who come back to the island from their various lives to rescue them, represent different aspects of colonial rule.

The orchid house is both a beautiful tale in itself but also a microcosm of Dominican life culture and politics. All done with marvellous colourful prose with a light poetic touch. Blissful calming beauty with a thorny subtext.

A thoroughly entertaining enjoyable and thought provoking read.

[Amena Kofi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main motivation I had for reading this book was the fact that I'd heard it was thought to be set in Dominica.

I think the descriptions of the scenery on the island were very vivid, but I think there were times when the way the sentences were structured made the reading experience a bit confusing.

I do think Lally's character was an effective demonstration on how an oppressed person can internalise the disdain shown towards their demographic in general - the way she would speak about the poverty stricken citizens (Black islanders like herself, who were suffering from the effects of previous colonisation) was horrible!

[Maria do Socorro Baptista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um lugar entre o real e o místico, narrado em primeira pessoa por uma antiga babá, que ama as meninas que ajudou a criar como se fossem suas próprias filhas, e tem imensa expectativa com a volta delas à terra natal, a ilha de Dominica. Alguns pontos são bem importantes de discutir: racismo, colonialismo, estresse pós-traumático, relacionamentos abusivos, e vários outros. Embora a narrativa seja totalmente diferente, lembrei-me muito de Wide Sargasso Sea, da autora Jean Rhys, conterrânea de Allfrey. Muito bom.

[Sanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is very interesting and certainly brings the exotic atmosphere of the Carribeans. I have never read such an atmosphere book since Bloomfield's "Raining season"(sorry if I'm mistaken, I've read it in Romanian, so I'm not sure that this is its title in English). it was refreshing and relaxing.

[Andrea Gil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cogí este libro de la sección de recomendaciones de la biblioteca, un poco por descubrir nuev@s escritores/as.
No me encantó, rescato el personaje de Lally la niñera, la verdadera protagonista de la historia a mi parecer y los primeros capítulos de introducción en donde hablan sobre la colonización de las Antillas en el Caribe.

[DesertSlug · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as part of my reading-of-the-world project (Dominica). This a solid historical fiction with well-developed characters and lessons to be learned about gender and colonialism. I liked it, I didn't love it. Although I would not say the story fell flat, I was left wanting more from it.

[Danilo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Livro bom. É leve também, e tem até um final feliz dentro da premissa. Tem outras coisas que eu gostei, tipo o forte teor feminista, anti-clerical e anti-colonial. Não é uma obra-prima, mas a vale a leitura.

[Michele Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dominica. Elderly family nanny (not a slave) tells the story of the family she cares for as the three daughters grow to adulthood. Descriptions of the island as a paradise are contrasted with the poverty of the native islanders. Dominica is located by Martinique in the Caribbean.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tedious

[Jane E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointed in this book. Not enough development for any of the characters and lots of unexplained details in the relationships of the main characters. The book needed to be twice as long with substantially more information to really make sense of the story.

[Rhoda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my read the world selection for Dominica.

The Orchid House is said to be loosely based on the author’s childhood in Dominica (she is represented by the character of Joan). Amidst the crumbling colonial society in Dominica in around the 1930’s, Lally, a black nurse is requested to come out of retirement to tend to her three now grown up white charges as they are all returning to the island from the various different countries they emigrated to.

The three sisters all have quite different lives now, but the pull of their island home is strong, as they each come to terms with their family’s descent into poverty in different ways.

The book has some lovely writing, particularly the descriptions of the island and surroundings. I did find the narration of the book by Lally to be a little odd and made it lack in fluidity a bit as it was written in such a way that at times it just didn’t make any sense for her to be narrating parts of the story.

I didn’t feel the characters were particularly strong and I didn’t feel any connection to them - if anything, I veered more towards disliking the sisters and their rather spoilt, flighty ways. I felt sad for Lally that she dedicated her whole life to the three little white girls, however for a book written about 70 years ago, it is definitely more racially aware than others I have read from that time. This is an ok book, but I can’t say it wowed me in any way ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

[Cassie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Allfrey’s novel still bothers me. Maybe I am not reading closely enough, but I can’t get a handle on the overarching plot/conflict in Orchid House. It feels like there is no overarching plot. It just seems to be a collection of observations that Lally has about the household she works for. The reader gets all these moments and hushed concerns, but nothing really truly pervades throughout the text.

At the same time Allfrey seems to be a lazy author. Rather than sticking to Lally’s perspective and making the narrator as limited as she actually is, Allfrey is constantly intervening. She adds these highly detailed scenarios that Lally overhears. That doesn’t feel realistic however – when you overhear gossip, or someone retells a story to you, you don’t get the same kind of detail as if you had experienced it firsthand. It reads as if Allfrey is just writing the novel to make some sort of political standpoint and does so at the expense of the literature that she is writing. It feels like she did not set out to write a piece of literature with symbolism, and allegorical themes like most novels that we are used to. Instead, it feels like she wanted to share her political ideology (and the best way to do that was to write about her life).

The novel reads like Allfrey is thinly veiling her autobiography with narrative details almost hoping she won’t be caught not having written an actual novel.

[Serlina Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Orchid House was a very interesting read and look into the life of an Island so beautiful but filled with illness.

The story is told through the narrative of Lally, the three girls' nanny. She loved the girls as her own and took great care of them. The girls were raised in a home devoid of male presence, due to their father enlisted for World War 2. After the war, he returned home but wasn't the same. He was jumpy and struggled with his identity. He was the nameless master of the house. The girls left for greener pastures in foreign lands but later returned to the island. This story is symbolic of colonialism events taking place on the island. The author wrote in Caribbean grammar and language and made awareness of certain places on the island.

This was a read for Lit class.

[Alistair · Rating 3 out of 5]

this should be a nice holiday read . it was ok . the lush carribean atmosphere is well described and the returning prodigal daughters is an interesting theme but it was all a bit too airy fairy for me and lacked focus . if you could combine the island stuff with jean rhys' characters you would have a terrific novel , but i did get out the travel brochures ( well google actually ) to check on Dominica

[jojo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good subject, and somewhat more racially aware than much literature in this setting, but still a bit painfully naiive in some matters. It has lovely landscape descriptions but the main characters are fairly unlikeable and spoiled. Good but not a classic.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published 1953 but the sense of the island and people (Dominica) still applies. Lyrical descriptions, strong characters.

[Susan Springer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting how life was so different in the Caribbean.