Spider Orchid

by Celia Fremlin

When Adrian's mistress, Rita, moves in with him, she is the victim of mysterious accidents possibly linked to Adrian's 10-year-old daughter

Genres: Mystery

185 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1978

About the author

Celia was born in Kingsbury, now part of London, England. She was the daughter of Heaver Fremlin and Margaret Addiscott. Her older brother, John H. Fremlin, later became a nuclear physicist. Celia studied at Somerville College, Oxford University. From 1942 to 2000 she lived in Hampstead, London. In 1942 she married Elia Goller, with whom she had three children; he died in 1968. In 1985, Celia married Leslie Minchin, who died in 1999. Her many crime novels and stories helped modernize the sensation novel tradition by introducing criminal and (rarely) supernatural elements into domestic settings. Her 1958 novel The Hours Before Dawn won the Edgar Award in 1960.

With Jeffrey Barnard, she was co-presenter of a BBC2 documentary “Night and Day” describing diurnal and nocturnal London, broadcast 23 January 1987.

Fremlin was an advocate of assisted suicide and euthanasia. In a newspaper interview she admitted to assisting four people to die.[1] In 1983 civil proceedings were brought against her as one of the five members of the EXIT Executive committee which had published “A Guide to Self Deliverance” , but the court refused to declare the booklet unlawful.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia...]

Reviews

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

In all this evil and malevolent farrago of treachery and lying, one sentence shone out as the truth, clear and unmistakable: "I love you".

Fremlin gives us another of her 'dark domestic' twisty narratives and here it's especially provocative that we don't know precisely where the threat is coming from.

At the same time, I always adore the way Fremlin's books open up a past time when cultural mores were different: we're in the 1970s when divorce law has changed (irreconcilable difference is now a legitimate reason for separation without having to put the blame on a co-respondent, as previously) and in the foreground is Adrian, a man whose mistress - the obnoxious Rita - is now free from her own husband and thus moves in with him.

There's so much subtle social commentary going on here: the status of women who still only seem to have assistant-type jobs, the plight of the child when her parents separate and a new woman is introduced, the adolescent dreams of Amelia, a really touching strand as Adrian realizes his love and easy companionship with his daughter, even living arrangements in a converted house presided over by the divinely scatty but maternal Dorothy.

And amidst all the chaos and dark, witty humour, is a skeptical meditation on romantic love: it's no coincidence, I think, that the two most fulfilling relationships we see are the parental ones between Peggie and Amelia, and the burgeoning one between Amelia and Adrian. The Peggy/Adrian marriage, the Derek/Rita one and the live-in Adrian/Rita liaison are all shown to be toxic in different ways, from the inadequate to the deadly. Even Amelia is starting to learn this from the diaries she is reading and writing.

This may not be quite as dark and anxiety-provoking as some of Fremlin's books but I always know that when I start one I won't be able to rest till I finish, so lucky they're slim books!

Oh, and we know how we're meant to react to Rita when she moves in with Adrian and complains about all his books - any character agitating for fewer books is already on my watch list!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book of Celia Fremlin published in 1977.

While RV'ing with my husband in 2019, I discovered this book as a Library discard at the Hannibal Public Library.

I found the author to be a master storyteller with a complete control of suspense.

When you think you have figured it out you find you were completely wrong.

And she did it in 185 pages! Nice.

[Brian E Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have previously described Fremlin as a writer who specializes in writing domestic suspense novels featuring a housewife where most of the action takes place at a residence or on the residential property. She is deft at portraying the trials and tribulations of the 1960s era ordinary woman/housewife and the people she is likely to run into.

But in this 1977 novel, her 10th, Fremlin switches gears and instead presents as the main protagonist Adrian, one of the many feckless males that Fremlin populates her work with. While professionally and intellectually skilled, it is Adrian’s self-focused, less-giving traits that make him feckless in his social relations. Despite his flaws, though, I still was able to empathize with Adrian.

At story’s start, Adrian is ‘welcoming’ into his bachelor pad his long-time mistress Rita who has finally left her husband Derek. Adrian had divorced his own wife Peggy four years before. The key dynamic is that Adrian finds he preferred having Rita part-time and apart from the routines of his current life. One of the routines Adrian enjoys is the quite Sunday afternoon’s spent with his daughter Amelia as she reads and he works or reads. Rita’s interference in such a cherished routine is a catalyst for some wonderfully engaging events.

After reading her eight previous novels, these events make for a suspenseful intriguing plot filled with surprising moments that all seemed fresh and vital to me. And Fremlin adds in her usual amount of witty, accurate and singular observations about people and social mores.

What also enlivens the story is that Fremlin populates it with vital and interesting characters such as Rita and Derek. The closest thing to a typical Fremlin heroine in this book is Peggy, and she is only a side character supplementing Amelia and Adrian’s roles. The relationship between Adrian, Rita and Derek seemed to be more similar to ones I’ve found in Iris Murdoch novels than in my previous Fremlin reads.

I think this is top-tier Fremlin. It is well-plotted, charactered and ended well too. I rate it as 4.3 stars, possibly even 5 stars. After finding the last Fremlin I read, “Appointment with Yesterday” to be relatively weak, I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I enjoyed this one. It’s good to know there are still gems to be found in some of her less-read, latter-day works.

My ratings for the Fremlin’s 9 novels and 1 story collection I’ve read:

MY RATINGS FOR FREMLINS
(Instead of rating 3.5 stars I rate at 4.3, 3.7 and 3.3 stars for better rounding).

4.3 - The Long Shadow
4.3 – The Spider Orchid
4.3 – The Jealous One
4.3 – The Hours Before Dawn
4.0 - Prisoner’s Base
4.0 – The Trouble Makers
3.7 - Uncle Paul
3.7 – Ghostly Stories
3.3 – Seven Lean Years
3.3 – Appointment With Yesterday

[WndyJW · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Celia Fremlin, so while this is not among my favorites of Fremlin’s I still enjoyed it.

[Naomi M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down, one of her best works!
Celia Fremlin knew people, in their variety, bound in social constructs and also, most especially, the ways of their minds. She has the unique talent of writing people with different social/ educational/ wealth backgrounds and people of different generations and ages. And with The Spider Orchid, she does it all. Many different people, giving sympathy (from the readers) to the wrong-doers and antipathies to the supposed victims, the authentic world of a (teen) daughter (with her own themes and struggles of and with life) and her father, finding their relationship and bond, while the father has his lover move in with him, the ex-wife and the ex-husband and a supposedly “ordinary” everyday situation (marriages break apart every day, don’t they?) that is just the surface. And underneath the surface lies the madness and the terror of human life in a society. Celia Fremlin, master of suspense and psychological thriller/ observation! There will never be one like her again!
And this last sentence! I promise you, the last sentence is worth everything!

[Lesley Ohara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celia Fremlin has given us a cosy family with a hint of nastiness somewhere, but where? This she does very well.
I have enjoyed all her books but I have read them while keeping in mind the mores of the times in which they are set. It is no use saying they are dated, that is part of the charm, and if you can remember the times, in this case the seventies.... well, that just adds to the enjoyment. Reading this book may be different for those younger who have little understanding of the era beyond flared pants and beads.
Celia Fremlin is a master story-teller with a complete control of suspense. One of her tricks is to make sure you don't empathise too much with the main character so you are never completely sure and this keeps the reader on her toes, or at least on the edge of the bed. With the light on.

[Bea Alden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, it's a bit dated - set around 1980 - but I enjoyed Fremlin's usual careful blend of an average English family story, with a hint of evil intrigue. There is an appropriately surprising denouement..

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whilst taking into account how dated the style is, I absolutely loved this book! So well written and intricately plotted with dark humour throughout. I rarely give books 5 stars but this one thoroughly deserved it.

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rather brilliant.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read from this author. Fremlin has the knack of misleading you whatever you may be thinking.
A divorced man has been carrying on with a woman for a few years, telling her how much he wants her, but when he does get her to leave her husband, he realises that it was not what he wanted after all. He has grown to like his single status, and does not want anyone else to spoil it.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Spider Orchid,' is Fremlin's tenth novel. I am working my way through her books, with her first being published in 1958. This was brought out in 1977 and so I would have been eleven at the time of publication. Although it is dated, I do remember these times enough that it made sense to me. Also, over the years, I have had many friends who got divorced and who, it seems, were married to an Adrian, so I could really sympathise this one.

Rita was Adrian's mistress and he adored her, until he divorced wife Peggy and Rita's husband, Derek, agrees to divorce, allowing them to live together. Suddenly, Adrian's life is thrown upside down. Work-obsessed, he enjoyed the benefits of taking out a pretty young woman, but to actually have to deal with her on a day to day basis is more than he expected. Worse than that, his relationship with thirteen year out daughter Amelia is under threat. Initially seeing Amelia as another problem to be dealt with, Adrian and Amelia have managed to negotiate a closeness they never had before. After refusing to take her out on day trips any more, Adrian will work on the day he has her and Amelia will happily do her homework or let her teenage emotions loose in her diary. Rita's sudden appearance in his rented rooms means that their fledgling closeness is in danger.

Rita is a wonderful character. Jealous, manipulative and sly, she tries to undermine Amelia in Adrian's eyes. Meanwhile, Amelia is blind to this danger until it is too late, as she is wrapped up in her own teenage crush on a teacher. Adrian is also selfish and self-absorbed and he is far too happy to leave things alone to avoid having to deal with the issue. There is a good twist to this one and I enjoyed the plot very much. Fremlin continues to be a joy to read and I look forward to reading on.

[Susan_MG · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book I have read by Celia Fremlin and I am a fan. Although her characters give the reader little to admire, and this story has no happy ending, it is full of unexpected twist and turns. My heart rate went up several times as I found myself anticipating danger, disaster or destruction.

[Boris Cesnik · Rating 4 out of 5]

A treat is a treat! In small doses, in a fluently written story with tiny suspense tricks that are always ahead of any of your guesses. You can saviour every line and be left astounded by Celia's small deceptions.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very suspenseful. Written in 1977. will look for more by this author

[Andy Weston · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am usually a fan of Fremlin, but was disappointed by this.
It reads more like a domestic soap-opera than her usual narratives with their sinister mysterious undertones.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Hel Gibbons · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dated, dull.