Three white sisters return to their Caribbean island home to find their family living in poverty & mental anguish. Each sister responds to the family`s plight in different ways
- seeking change through romance or politics or money. Intenselyautobiographical, The Orchid House describes a colonial society in decay as seen through the (usually) loyal eyes of the sisters` childhood nurse, Lally: ” Beauty & disease, beauty & sickness, beauty & horror: that was the isl&.” First published in 1953, it was republished in 1982 as a Virago Modern Classic. It was later filmed by Channel 4 for a four-part series (1991) with Diana Quick, Frances Barber & Elizabeth Hurley (available as a DVD). This edition has a new & incisive introduction by the Dominican scholar Schuyler Esprit, which casts a fresh & contemporary eye on Allfrey`s life & work.