The Garden
The Garden
by Paul Perry
On a devastated orchid farm in Southern Florida, Swallow, an Irish migrant worker and ex-marine, faces a reckoning in the illegal hunt for an endangered ghost orchid.
‘A lush, tough evocation of obsession and betrayal, this is noir with a poet's touch. The Garden is a book about beauty, blood, heat and ruin. A rich and satisfying read.’ —Anne Enright
C-format hardback | ISBN: 9781848407992 | 256pp | Release Date: May 2021
SIgned Copies Available for Direct Orders on the Website!
The Garden is dying. Once an Edenic orchid farm, it has been decimated by the worst hurricane in Florida’s living memory. Its glasshouses are shattered, the surrounding mangroves encroach, and its men are dangerously idle. When Romeo – an expert breeder of the endangered ghost orchid – arrives from Honduras, boss Blanchard and his Irish lieutenant, Swallow, believe their fortunes are on the rise.
Romeo may not be all he seems though, and Swallow can sense the newcomer shaking the Garden’s creaking hierarchy. The ghost orchid they seek is infamously rare, a delicate and wildly valuable species, hidden deep in the treacherous cypress swamps of the Fakahatchee Strand. To capture the ghost, Blanchard and Swallow must strike a deal with Logan, a dangerously unpredictable member of the local Seminole tribe, whose wounded pride, and simmering web of violence threaten to uproot any hope of success. As Blanchard’s obsession distracts him from what is truly precious, Swallow’s long-buried traumas will test his ability to stop lust, betrayal and death from engulfing the Garden.
Paul Perry’s first solo novel tells of smothering power, loyalty and agency thwarted by the tragic patterns of memory and behaviour. The Garden is a modern fable, and a warning against trespassing upon nature in the name of profit.
Paul Perry is an award-winning poet and novelist. He has published several collections of poetry, most recently Blindsight (above / ground press, 2020). He also co-authored four international bestselling novels as Karen Perry, including The Innocent Sleep with Penguin Random House. He directs the Creative Writing Programme at University College Dublin. The Garden is his debut novel as Paul Perry.
Reviews for The Garden:
“The power of this novel is generated by an urgent evocation of place and of time. South Florida’s extremity of character emanates in part from a collision between the uncontrollable power of nature and the uncontrolled greed of humanity. ”
“This is a superb read, a modern fable of exceptional depth that defies categorisation in terms of genre. From its beautiful cover to its turbulent conclusion, it’s a summer must-read.”
“When the bullets start to fly, you’ll find yourself genuinely concerned about the fate of Swallow and his cohorts. This is down to Perry’s compassion for his characters. He doesn’t judge them for their sins, but the darkness at the heart of The Garden reminds us that someone else might.”
“atmospheric and absorbing ... an exceptional novel that lingers long in the memory”
“a gripping and finely calibrated morality fable with dark slippery textures.”
“Part modern parable, part noirish thriller, The Garden is an intriguing, atmospheric read where you can almost taste the salty sweat on every page.”
Advance Praise for The Garden:
“A vivid and exceptionally exciting novel.”
“Intense and riveting. The Garden has a savage beauty that haunts.”
“Luminous as a bruise, vividly compelling, oozing shades of Hemingway in its depiction of lost souls stalking salvation in a damaged, defiant Eden.”
“Paul Perry has written a highly intelligent novel in which the pursuit of true beauty can only cause pain. Beckettian in its themes and yet lavish in its descriptions, this Garden is far from Eden.”
“A gripping novel of disorder and desire, evoking superbly a humid, claustrophobic world in precise, headlong prose. Read it.”
Gratefully supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.
