Black Orchids

by Gillian Slovo

When the genteely impoverished and rebellious Evelyn marries the charming Emil, scion of a privileged Sinhalese family, she thinks that her dream of a life in England can now at last come true. So the family travel, with their young son Milton, from Ceylon to Tilbury Docks. But this is England in the 1950s and, no matter how hard Evelyn wishes that it would, England does not take kindly to strangers, especially families who are half black and half white.

A profound and moving novel, this is the story about the search to feel at home in your own skin.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Book Club

384 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2008

About the author

Novelist Gillian Slovo was born in 1952 in South Africa, the daughter of Joe Slovo, leader of the South African Communist party, and Ruth First, a journalist who was murdered in 1982.

Gillian Slovo has lived in England since 1964, working as a writer, journalist and film producer. Her first novel, Morbid Symptoms (1984), began a series of crime fiction featuring female detective Kate Baeier. Other novels in the series include Death by Analysis (1986), Death Comes Staccato (1987), Catnap (1994) and Close Call (1995). Her other novels include Ties of Blood (1989), The Betrayal (1991) and Red Dust (2000), a courtroom drama set in contemporary South Africa, which explores the effects of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Reviews

[Praveen Palakkazhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gillian Slovo’s Black Orchids is an engrossing narrative of love and its recriminations, both good and bad. You may not end up liking the characters, but you can definitely empathize with their predicaments, and this is probably a result of the effective and sensual prose.

The sensuality and immersion in time and place is felt at its most in the opening section of the novel, which takes place in soon to be independent Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), around the midpoint of the twentieth century. Evelyn, a fierce and independent spirit stuck in a sea of genteel colonial bluster, lives with her mother and elder sister. In order to tide over financially, her mother keeps boarders, usually officers of the soon to depart English government, but they know that their time in Ceylon is also almost up. Eventually, they too will need to depart these shores, which is the only home Evelyn has known, for their ‘home’ country, England. Evelyn isn’t relishing the prospect at all. Unlike most of the British lodgers, and her sister, she likes the mystery and difference of the only country she has known and would much rather prefer it to leaving for an uncertain future in another land. This feeling intensifies when a chance encounter with a toddy climber’s accident brings her in touch with Emil, a dashing young scion of a well to do Sinhalese family. Pretty soon they are head over heels in love and passion for each other and despite the misgivings of either side’s family, decide to get married. Evelyn thus stays back in newly independent Ceylon, while her wary mother and disapproving sister depart. After a while though, under the pretext of expanding their family business, Emil and Evelyn also end up in England. What should have been a precursor to a happy family, with two kids and a relatively lavish lifestyle in post-war England, turns out to be anything but for Evelyn and slowly we see the marriage disintegrating. The final portions bring the book back full circle, with their grown up son journeying to Sri Lanka in search of some hard truths.

As already mentioned, the book is heavy on atmosphere. I loved the initial sections set in Ceylon where we could feel the intensity of the place and climate as Evelyn experiences them. After that, the book shifts its action to the relative frigidness of 1950’s London and its hostile attitude to interracial couples, especially one which is wealthy compared to the average populace. Evelyn’s change from a freewheeling spirit to one which is desperate to not stand out much and who resents her husband’s refusal to blend in for conformity does not endear us much to her, but the book doesn’t really try to make us root for her anyway. It tries to bring in us the empathy that sometimes people change for reasons we couldn’t really understand completely unless we live it out, and that sometimes couple’s seemingly forever in love develop cracks even if neither partner does something we agree to be horrible. Evelyn, more than anything else, is portrayed as a confused soul who cannot seem to feel at home anywhere and acts out in immature ways at times. None more so evident than when she interacts with her older and more sensible sister(not something we immediatelyrealize), who in contrast to Evelyn’s lavish life has to do with much more basic arrangements and accepts it with a resigned practicality.

Ultimately, it’s a telling take on love and the consequences of your actions and the attempts to feel at home in your own skin – something which a lot of us can probably relate to. For the same reasons, I would recommend this to most readers.

[Novelle Novels · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 out of 5 stars
I’m sioooo sorry I didn’t like this 😭😭😭 I soooo wanted to as it’s a mix of historical fiction and contemporary but I’m afraid I really struggled with this and so often I wanted to give up on it. This is at first set in the 1940’s in what would turn into Sri Lanka at a time when people if different races didn’t mix but the leading lady Evelyn falls in love with a black man called Emil who is charming and exciting. One of the scenes in the beginning is of her riding on the back of his motorcycle feeling so alive and that is probably my favourite bit. They have to move to England in 1950 where yet again racism is rife but this time it’s against anyone who isn’t white. Their son Milton has taken his father’s colour and really struggled with this. I found I didn’t emphasise with any of the characters or really care which is important to me. Ends didn’t get tied up and it felt very jumpy. Not a book for me I’m afraid 😦

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

About a quarter of the way through this book I was tempted to give up. I had just read another 'romantic fiction' set in Asia and wondered if I could possibly face another soppy inter-racial love story so soon after. I had expected more - so much more - from Gillian Slovo. That's my fault, of course, not hers. This is my first experience with her writing and I should hang my head in shame for expecting (perhaps demanding) something more worthy, more political, from the daughter of two famous white South African communists and Anti-Apartheid activists. The voice in my head kept nudging me; "What would Joe Slovo think of this romantic slush?"

And then it all started to change.

Once Evelyn, the foreign-born daughter of Brits abroad and her wealthy local Sri Lankan businessman husband flee Ceylon for a Britain that neither of them could really think of as home, things started to get interesting.

Evelyn was so happy with her handsome dark-skinned husband whilst in Ceylon but finds herself disappointed and almost ashamed in 1950s Britain where the response of locals to her family is at best staring and surprise and at worst outright prejudice. Whilst Emil, her husband is a social butterfly and the life and soul of every party, Evelyn just can't settle to her multi-hued family and so takes steps with her life that ruin everything good about her relationships.

At first I kept comparing this to my favourite writer of Sri Lankan origins and thinking "Roma Tearne would have done this so much better" until I realised the comparison was inappropriate. Gillian Slovo has created a different set of challenges and issues from those seen in Tearne's tales of the Sri Lankan diaspora. The direction is different even if the destinations and journeys are similar.

None of the characters are particularly likeable - Evelyn is a disappointment to herself, Emil always seems to be 'trying too hard', their son Milton is a spoilt chap whose problems can't help but be attributed in large part to the behaviour of his parents, and their daughter Vanessa makes little impact on the tale.

After a slow start that was altogether too conventional for my liking, this developed into a book with some important messages. I will look for Slovo's writing again.

[Laura Besley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written and an interesting style too.

[Amashi De Mel Hersh · Rating 2 out of 5]

A roller coaster of a narrative - combining multiple stories into one.
Depending on your expectations of the book you might enjoy it or not. I fall into the latter category and strongly feel the book lacked poetic justice to most of its characters. Especially Evelyn and Emil - Evelyn a character Slovo tempts you to admire at the beginning but makes you start loathing her very soon with her "first world problems -like" mentality. I was glad to find out she died, and disappointed to find out she was only missing. With Emil, Slovo builds him to somewhat of a climax, but like all the characters in the book he too is flat, and deserved better (probably because he was the only character I could somewhat empathise with).
The novel's lack of dynamic characters leaves you detached to them, but Slovo's style of narration keeps you thirsting to hear them out anyway. The ending is sweet in the sense that, oh okay Milton who felt like an outsider his whole life among society and his own family finally felt like he belonged in Sri Lanka - but so what? His character from start to finish is truly unlikable and difficult to empathise with, and to me it didn't matter what happened to him.
I strongly feel complex characters and a less multi-dimensional plot could have made this a way better novel, but once again I really think this depends on your taste in novels too.
Overall, I applaud Gillian Slovo for her attention to detail in terms of setting (despite being a foreigner) it was an enlightening read in that sense. Her intriguing narrative structure is why I'd like to give her another chance - but after a long break.

[Gita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in 1950s, it is a very sensitive topic dealt in a truthfully frank manner which was relevant to that time and amazingly still felt strongly albeit as an undercurrent in all fair skinned countries. It is a story of racism and its impact on the adults as well as the children of mixed skin color families. Evelyn is a spirited young Britisher girl born & brought up in Ceylon, the country renamed later on as Sri Lanka, into an impoverished family where she is brought up by her mother alone after early demise of her father. She falls in love with a rich Sinhalese boy, Emil, who is a dashing debonair boy & although both families disapprove of their relationship & try to make them understand but it only results in making them resolve to get married rather hastily. They set up their own home & have their first child, a son , who has very dark skin color, more darker than his father. Evelyn loves her son immensely and having heard of many positive stories of life in United Kingdom from her mother, she convinces Emil to relocate their life. But once relocated she faces the harsh realities of life that a mixed race dark skinned son has to face and the strange looks & behavior she & her husband have to endure. Although Emil makes good financial life despite all of it but the constant emotional struggle takes its toll on each member of the family.
It is rare to find a fair skin author who can capture the hardships of a dark skin color individual or of a mixed colored family. What is sad is that this book speaks about all this happening in 1950s and the world still hasn’t changed much till date till 2025.

[Alanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Readers who live by the rule of books over movies and tv shows will be peeved by the lack of details and sudden jumps. In a way, Gillian Slovo narrates the developments in her characters lives in the form of snapshots, showing you important memories, and then moving on.

This is a story about the struggle for a sense of truly belonging. Early into the book, I was unsettled by Evelyn's exoticizing of her lover with every mention of her desire for his beautiful honey brown skin. I thought surely this author must not have the sensitivity to produce a good interracial love story. But as Slovo weaved in Evelyn's growing discomfort with Emil being proud to be different, and her selfish detachment from feeling what he felt, I was surprised to realise the flaw was in the character and not the writer. The story starts with Evelyn and her struggle to belong, and ends, even heavier, with her son carrying on the same burden.

I could enjoy this the way I would enjoy a tv drama, accepting the 'scene to scene' jumps as they happened. But I wish more memories were fleshed out, and that the characters had not constantly shied away from facing each other, always only reaching the 'almost' point and never once exploring the troubling thoughts they longed for each other to explore together as family.

[Zainub · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evelyn, a rebellious, beautiful but poor Englishwoman living in Sri Lanka falls in love and marries the lively and charming Emil, a very rich Sinhalese.

A few years into their marriage Evelyn desires to move to England and Emil happily obliges.
With his entrepreneurial skills he sets up a very successful business and though everyone respects his money in England they see him with malice as a rich jester and a low-class being.

The general society there makes Evelyn doubt her decisions and ultimately her love and loyalty for Emil with their prejudices after all England doesn’t really welcome mixed race families with ease as it happens to be the 1950’s.

The basic premise of this book is very promising and thought provoking but on more than one occasion I found the narrative to just be superficial and skim the surface of the issues it was supposed to deal with.

I would have preferred to read more about the racist society and how it casually served it’s racist beliefs to unsuspecting individuals with no remorse, also, about the difficulties of living between two cultures and being uprooted from both.
I just wish the author had explored those themes in depth.

The writing style is passionate, the story is fascinating but the end of the book was kind of a letdown.
Despite my reservations on this one I think it’s definitely worth a read.

[Parhelion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Orchids is about a young white woman who marries a Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, and they start a family and move to England. And because this is England in the 1950s, racism and prejudice make things really tough for them and their kids.

My feelings about this book are conflicted. I enjoyed reading this book, not because I liked it but because it touched a nerve. The characters are not inherently likeable, through their own flaws compounded by the dreary and crap situations they find themselves constantly up against. It's kind of hard to get to know and feel attached to the characters because the plot skips several years in time repeatedly, and when you meet up with the character again you find they have changed dramatically. There is no nice, complete "hero's journey" plot. But the story is jarring and will stick to you because it is very easy to relate to the ugliness of the characters and their response to the world they are in. They don't overcome the demon of racism; it corrupts and destroys their family, and somehow they scrape themselves through to the other side. It's a story about not belonging and about trying to fit in.

[John Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day you discover that your father is a liar and that your dead mother is alive. What do you do?

Eight. Gillian Slovo has a way of using simple words with flair. Her novel, Black Orchid, is a sad but delightful one. The synopsis tells us that it is a story about a search of feeling at home in your own skin, and that was beautifully summarized.

Honestly, it is a beautiful novel that teaches us some morals in racism and inter-culture but more importantly, on our own judgments about ourselves. The only downside of the book for me is that Slove chose to unfold the story with irrational characters to narrate it. But still, the characters were golden, some silver, some bronze. I liked the feel of the book, it is an effortless read as it clings on your stream of consciousness easily.

[Pip Squeak · Rating 3 out of 5]

story of white woman who marries a native man in the last days of Ceylon before its independence into Sri Lanka and they then move to England.

Started off well, good portrayal of prejudice in both countries at the time, and their struggles to fit in at a time when mixed race marriages were unusual; characters were realistic and situations credible.
Mid way through though, bizarre and totally unbelievable twist of events which really let the book down.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

To my surprise, really enjoyed it

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[São Palma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gostei, mas nada "por aí além" ... Faz pensar um pouco sobre o que faz com que as relações se destruam...

[Eva B · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm in two minds about Gillian Slovo's Black Orchids. It is well written and thought provoking yet I can't help feel something is missing. Slovo follows the story of rebellious Evelyn (British blond beauty, poor and raised in Ceylon)and flamboyant Emil Reymundo (younger son of rich and proud Sinhalese family).

After a whirlwind romance, Evelyn and Emil marry, despite the reservations of both their families, on the eve of the Sri Lankan independence. Evelyn pushes Emil to emigrate to England and later, to enroll their eldest son Milton in a elite public English boarding school. Meanwhile, she becomes increasingly aware that her marriage to Emil is unacceptable to the staid British of the late 1950s, & 1960s. She desperately tries to fit in, leading to disaster and betrayal - with events impacting on their children, especially Milton.

There is a much to like in this book, the characterisation, the descriptions, elements of the plot, the bringing to life of the different settings - pre-independence Ceylon, British public boarding schools etc. The book always engaged my interest drawing me further into the story but often with a slightly dissatisfied feel. At the heart of which are two things. Firstly, I felt a huge disconnect between the younger Evelyn who falls in love with Emil and delights in ignoring conventions, to the suddenly correct and proper Evelyn in the middle of the story to the Evelyn at the end of the book. Slovo gives us Evelyn's motivations for these great changes, but at two crucial points they just don't hang together for me -and as these points are crucial to the whole plot of the novel, it almost feels like Evelyn is a puppet rather than herself. And because of this, I find it hard to garner precisely what point Slovo is making. It seems to me that she disproves more of Evelyn who marries without being sensible (unlike her staid sister Marjory) and acts on emotional whims and self pity rather than fight for what is right - than the racist and snobbish society which isolates a family and particularly Emil & refuses to see their/his beauty, talents and contributions. Perhaps the point is how deeply the insidious roots of racism can penetrate even those with more enlightened views? Perhaps its about how difficult it is to live between two cultures? Perhaps it is that naivety is no protection against malice and prejudice?

Yet despite all my hesitations, I think Black Orchids is worth reading - written by an accomplished author on an significant subject with passion and feeling.

[Losososdiane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather unconventional tale of a mixed marriage between a British woman born and raised in Sri Lanka and a Sinhalese man from a family that made its wealth in rubber. The novel works on a personal and cultural level. The author reveals the personalities of the two main characters and how they fit within their own families which leads to how these two could so easily defy cultural barriers to fall in love and marry. Then she moves them to England where we see how they and their children manage to make a life in the very rigid and rejecting upper class culture. The geography of both places plays a role in the novel: sunny, hot, tropical Sri Lanka and cool, foggy, damp England. The story of the fate of the family moves from 1946 to 1972, encompassing much political and social change in both countries. The author cooks up some surprises along the way and some excruciatingly painful scenes of what it feels like to stand on the outside despite great effort to gain acceptance. I think this is a very thoughtful novel. I could not put it down and found myself opening it while standing in the Special Services line at LAX (so special I was that I had to stand there for over an hour waiting to be rescheduled), in taxis and on the Metro in D.C., and at midnight after a full day of sightseeing and celebration. This is really A Good Read.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Gillian Slovo's work is always interesting, and there is much to like in this book - in particular Slovo's acute sense of place, and her ability to capture the helplessness of misery. But in the end it was more frustrating than satisfying. I understood the tale Slovo was trying to tell, a study in how dreams fall apart under pressure, but the problem was I didn't buy two key decisions that she has the characters make in the second half of the book. rather than feeling like the inevitable culmination of a journey, which seems to be what the author is going for, but just having and necessary to take the book where the author wants it to go. This sapped the emotional impact for me, leaving me more confused and annoyed than enlightened.

[Rachelle Seymore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slovo writes well and I enjoyed this book. Her writing flows, good language skills and although the time is set in the 1950s through to the 1970s, the topic is quite relevant even today. The black/white issue is still with us; the prejudices and the results of it must surely have an effect on mixed marriages. Throughout the book I often asked where does one belong? Not necessarily in the place where you were born, but rather that which you call home. Many other aspects raised in the book made me think, such as class vs money; the question of honesty and the difficulty of raising children - I often think more so when you are privileged. It is a novel but it spoke to me and I thought en enjoyable read.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just can't decide what I think about this novel! I loved the eloquence and imagery of the narrative - which worked especially well at the start of the book in Ceylon, but the characters irritated me quite a lot and I thought the response to Evelyn's behaviour by both her and Emil was bizarre and I just couldn't quite believe in the story after that. So I guess I loved bits and didn't like others. I would definitely read Slovo again. We are discussing this book at my village book club next month so it'll be interesting to see what others think and tease out some of my difficulties with the plot.

[Gabrielle Trenbath · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah..... I was really excited about this book when I first brought it as stories of outsiders, cross cultural upbringings and marriages really interest me but I soon became disappointed with the story and by the end I was glad it was all over. The story did show what England was like at the time and how far its come, although that is up for debate. I felt that Evelyn (the main Character) began as a formidable woman but who ended up being a bit of a cop out.

[Trine* · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing. I loved the first section in Ceylon - the colour of the location and the manners and behaviours of the time, but then it lost me with the family dramas that seemed a little too contrived instead of relying of the great story of drawing out the cultural differneces and underlying rcism of the British during the 50s and 60s.

[Gayle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts off very strong with rich descriptions and the reader feels part of the story but half way through the location of the story changes and so does the writing. It looses the engagement and feels flat. You could say this was a tool that the writer was using to distinguish between the 2 locations but the second half really dragged

[Bachyboy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have yet to read a book set in Ceylon that has disappointed. English born Evelyn falls in love with Emil, the son of a wealthy, Sinhalese family. She convinces him to move back to England with her but 1950s England is not the place for mixed marriages, in spite of Emil's wealth. A profound and moving novel.

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read.
Such a shame that prejudice against mixed race marriages in 50s London ruins the relationship which, nowadays, would probably be applauded.
Of course, their own entrenched attitudes are also to blame.

[Ann Tonks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reminder of what terrible things we do to each other because of race. A white girl falls in love with a Sri Lankan boy and both their communities can't tolerate it. Add to that the challenge of their children finding their way in the world and you have an interesting story.

[Bronwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A disappointment. Gillian Slovo creates full-blown characters here, but major plot points are unearned. Also there's some awkward expository stuff that should be edited out altogether.

[heartful · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been a great novel...so disappointing.

[Sachitra Mahendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

An ultra-touching story of love, betrayal and repentence. One of the best I've read since 'The World Without End'.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't put it down! Sadly, my daughters don't agree!