Synopses & Reviews
In Susan Orlean's mesmerizing true story of beauty and obsession is John Laroche, a renegade plant dealer and sharply handsome guy, in spite of the fact that he is missing his front teeth and has the posture of al dente spaghetti. In 1994, Laroche and three Seminole Indians were arrested with rare orchids they had stolen from a wild swamp in south Florida that is filled with some of the world's most extraordinary plants and trees. Laroche had planned to clone the orchids and then sell them for a small fortune to impassioned collectors. After he was caught in the act, Laroche set off one of the oddest legal controversies in recent memory, which brought together environmentalists, Native Amer-ican activists, and devoted orchid collectors. The result is a tale that is strange, compelling, and hilarious.New Yorker writer Susan Orlean followed Laroche through swamps and into the eccentric world of Florida's orchid collectors, a subculture of aristocrats, fanatics, and smugglers whose obsession with plants is all-consuming. Along the way, Orlean learned the history of orchid collecting, discovered an odd pattern of plant crimes in Florida, and spent time with Laroche's partners, a tribe of Seminole Indians who are still at war with the United States.There is something fascinating or funny or truly bizarre on every page of The Orchid Thief: the story of how the head of a famous Seminole chief came to be displayed in the front window of a local pharmacy; or how seven hundred iguanas were smuggled into Florida; or the case of the only known extraterrestrial plant crime. Ultimately, however, Susan Orlean's book is about passion itself, and the amazing lengths to which people will go to gratify it. That passion is captured with singular vision in The Orchid Thief, a once-in-a-lifetime story by one of our most original journalists.
Synopsis
Now a major film starring Oscar winners Dame Judi Dench, Alicia Vikander and Christoph Waltz and adapted for the screen by Sir Tom Stoppard. From the bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel comes a thrilling story of power, lust and deception...
Seventeenth-century Amsterdam - a city in the grip of tulip fever.
Sophia's husband Cornelis is one of the lucky ones grown rich from this exotic new flower.
To celebrate, he commissions a talented young artist to paint him with his beautiful bride.
But as the portrait grows, so does the passion between Sophia and the painter; and ambitions, desires and dreams breed an intricate deception and a reckless gamble.
Synopsis
Seventeenth-century Amsterdam, a city in the grip of tulip mania and basking the wealth it has generated. Cornelis, an ageing merchant, commissions a talented young painter to preserve his status and marriage on canvas. At the sittings, as a collector of beautiful things, Cornelis surrounds himself with symbols of his success, including his young wife, Sophia. But as the portrait grows, so does the passion between Sophia and the artist; and as ambitions, desires and dreams breed an intricate deception, their reckless gamble propels their lives towards a thrilling and tragic conclusion.
About the Author
Deborah Moggach was born into a family of writers and has had fifteen novels published. She continues to successfully adapt her own and others' work for film and TV, including
Close Relations,
Stolen and
Seesaw.
Her most recent novel, Final Demand, is a poignant and beautifully written follow-up to the critically-acclaimed Tulip Fever. Deborah lives in north London.
Reading Group Guide
The questions, discussion topics, and author biography that follow are intended to enhance your reading of Deborah Moggach's Tulip Fever.
1. What is tulip fever?
2. Tulips, flowers, and petals play a far greater role in the story than as simply a trading commodity. How? Why?
3. "Turn the paintings round and enjoy their beauty, for they shall outlast us all," writes Cornelis in his final note. How is this ironic?
4. In the 1630s, Amsterdam society was very hierarchical. Why is it that the lower class characters triumph in their goals and happiness? Do they want something so different from what the upper class protagonists want?
5. Jan tells his apprentice that "all painting is deception," and yet when painting "Naked Woman on a Bed" he tells Sophia that, "this painting will not lie, it will tell the truth." Ultimately which is true? How are the paintings in the book truthful or deceptive?
6. A water motif runs throughout the book. What is its significance? Why do you think the author chose to include it so prominently?
7. Cornelis, so proud and admiring of his city of Amsterdam, is the only one to leave it behind. Why?
8. Which proves more seductive: love or tulips? Which proves more destructive?
9. Religion and belief are present throughout the book. In the end, although all the characters have sinned, one (Sophia) turns to the church and one (Cornelis) turns away from it entirely. Why? Does Sophia make her decision based entirely on self-preservation or is there more to it?
10. Does Maria's belief in superstition suit her and guide her better than the others' practice of organized religion?
11. If, as it seems at its most simplistic, the novel shows us that "the wicked shall be punished," why do Maria and Willem end up the way they do?
12. If Willem had confronted Maria rather than joining the Navy, what options might have been open to Sophia and Jan? Did, in essence, Willem cause everyone's downfall?
13. Do you think Sophia and Jan did the right thing in planning to indulge their love rather than their obligations? Could they have been successful if circumstances had been different?
14. How does author seem to feel about parental love versus romantic love? Cornelis is deprived of both kinds -- twice, which impacts him more?
15. Does Maria's belief in superstition suit her and guide her better than the others' practice of organized religion?
16. If, as it seems at its most simplistic, the novel shows us that "the wicked shall be punished," why do Maria and Willem end up the way they do?
17. If Willem had confronted Maria rather than joining the Navy, what options might have been open to Sophia and Jan? Did, in essence, Willem cause everyone's downfall?
18. Do you think Sophia and Jan did the right thing in planning to indulge their love rather than their obligations? Could they have been successful if circumstances had been different?
19. How does author seem to feel about parental love versus romantic love? Cornelis is deprived of both kinds -- twice. Which impacts him more?