NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK A modern classic of personal journalism, The Orchid Thief is Susan Orlean’s wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession. Determined to clone an endangered flower—the rare ghost orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii—a deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man named John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America’s strange flower-selling subculture, through Florida’s swamps and beyond, along with the Seminoles who help him and the forces of justice who fight him. In the end, Orlean—and the reader—will have more respect for underdog determination and a powerful new definition of passion. In this new edition, coming fifteen years after its initial publication and twenty years after she first met the “orchid thief,” Orlean revisits this unforgettable world, and the route by which it was brought to the screen in the film Adaptation, in a new retrospective essay. Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. Praise for The Orchid Thief “Stylishly written, whimsical yet sophisticated, quirkily detailed and full of empathy . . . The Orchid Thief shows [Orlean’s] gifts in full bloom.”—The New York Times Book Review “Fascinating . . . an engrossing journey [full] of theft, hatred, greed, jealousy, madness, and backstabbing.”—Los Angeles Times “Orlean’s snapshot-vivid, pitch-perfect prose . . . is fast becoming one of our national treasures.”—The Washington Post Book World “Orlean’s gifts [are] her ear for the self-skewing dialogue, her eye for the incongruous, convincing detail, and her Didion-like deftness in description.”—Boston Sunday Globe “A swashbuckling piece of reporting that celebrates some virtues that made America great.”—The Wall Street Journal
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
In the “exquisitely written, consistently entertaining” (The New York Times) The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the ...
There are nine police officers on the Pembroke force, and 33 percent of them are named Strickland. ... At the time, Officer Strickland had been a Pembroke police officer for five years, most of which he'd spent on the night shift.
Deftly written and captivatingly researched, Orchid Fever is an endlessly enchanting and entertaining tour of an exotic world.
They were Craig Rhodes, the project manager (partial to Eurythmics, Kate Bush, and reggae, and currently nurturing an interest in blues), Sophia Gruzdys (major fan of Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Jimmy Yancey), Christopher Rand (into Bach, ...
Lee got hundreds of letters from dog owners, for whom he had become a sort of paradigm, the perfect dog owner of the ... The story was prominently featured beside a piece by then Senator Lyndon Johnson called “My Heart Attack Taught Me ...
After the war, Stubby shook hands with Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, and Calvin Coolidge; when he died he was stuffed and mounted and put in the Smithsonian on display. The first time most people in the world saw a German ...
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • The Washington Post • The Wall Street Journal • San Francisco Chronicle • NPR • The Economist • Newsday • BookReporter “In their magisterial new ...
The Orchid Thief: Proof
An exciting new set of Biff, Chip and Kipper stories from Roderick Hunt and Alex Brychta full of modern-day appeal. These stories support children's transition from fully decodable phonic readers to stories with richer language.