Virago modern classics (London, England)

First published in 1954, The Orchid House, Phyllis Shand Allfrey's only published novel, is a classic of Caribbean literature. In this markedly autobiographical story of the three daughters of a once-powerful but now impoverished white family, Allfrey interweaves her family's history with the history of her home island of Dominica in the twentieth century. The novel is written in a sensuous style and the story remarkably told through the eyes of Lally, the black nurse of the three sisters. Often praised for the clearsightedness of its analysis of the Dominican historical process, The Orchid House stands at a crucial intersection of West Indian politics. It was during this period that the colonized took over from the colonizer the direction of local governments. Allfrey, a Fabian socialist and founder of Dominica's first political party, articulates in this novel the central tenet of a political philosophy that guided a lifetime of grassroots activism: that profound changes had to take place in the power structures of Caribbean societies to bring social justice to its peoples, and that those who persevered in seeking to revive the past were doomed. This edition makes this classic novel available in paperback for the first time in years.

Set during the interwar period of the twentieth century in England. Olivia Curtis wakes to her seventeenth birthday ; her presents: a roll of flame-coloured silk for her first evening dress ; a diary for her inmost thoughts ; a china ornament ; a ten shilling note. Safe, still, within the bosom of a family at once lovingly familiar yet curiously remote, she stands poised on the brink of womanhood ; anticipating her first dance with tremulous uncertainty and excitement -- the greatest, yet most terrifying event in her restricted social life. For her pretty, poised elder sister Kate, the dance will be a triumph, but for Olivia, shy and awkward, what will it be?