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The Orchid House is 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] The Orchid House is a fictionalized account of Allfrey's early life, narrated by an old Black nurse Lally from Montserrat. It was turned into a highly acclaimed film for British television.
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 with Casting Director John Hubbard[2] and starring Elizabeth Hurley, Madge Sinclair, Diana Quick, Kate Buffery, British painter and grand-niece of Phyllis Shand Allfrey, Lindy Allfrey[3] and Frances Barber.[4][5] An American edition of the novel appeared in 1996.
A French-language version, La Maison des Orchidées, appeared in 1954.[6]
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..."[7]
See also
- The Orchid House, the television miniseries.
- Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
References
- ^ Polly Pattullo, "Phyllis Alfrey: The Art of Living Together", Caribbean Beat, Issue 6 (Summer 1993).
- ^ "John Hubbard", IMDb.
- ^ "Royal News at Repeating Islands (The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge)", Repeating Islands, 24 March 2015.
- ^ The Orchid House at IMDb
- ^ Staff, Hollywood.com. "The Orchid House | Movie | 1990". Hollywood.com. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- ^ Biography of author Phyllis Shand Allfrey, The Orchid House (1991 reprint). London: Virago Modern Classics.
- ^ 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)