The first time I read this, I said it was something all people should read, and I stick by this assessment. If more people understood people different than themselves, the world would be a much better place.
About the Book
Kate is a neuroscientist who covets logic and order, unless she’s sleeping with her married lab director, and then logic goes out the window. So does her orderly life in Manhattan when she’s fired over the affair and Kate’s mother presses her to accept responsibility for her fifteen-year-old nephew, Teague, an orchid child who hears voices and talks to trees but rarely people.
To salvage her career, Kate agrees to conduct a study in West Ireland where hostile townsfolk rebuff her study of their historically high rate of schizophrenia and a local chief Druid identifies Teague’s odd perceptions as the gift of second sight, thrusting a bewildered Kate on a trail of madness, magic, and armed rebellion that leads to her own grandparents, who were banished as traitors from the same town.
When a confrontation with the chief Druid endangers Teague’s life, Kate lands at the intersection of ancient Celtic mysticism and 21st century neurodiversity, where the act of witnessing old wounds can heal suffering in both past and present – even hers, if she can accept the limits of science and the power of ancestral ties.
My Thoughts
I read through my first review, and there’s nothing I can do to make my review better than that one. You can find it here. The only difference i I read it in physical form this time. But I felt the same about it, and I was apparently at an incredibly lyrical and poignant place in my life then. And I could not do this gorgeous book any more justice than I did at that time. So if you haven’t read my first review, please do that!
I am so grateful to the author and Love Books Tours for including me on the tour, the readalong, and for sharing this beautiful story with us. I look forward to more stories from her beautiful mind.
Question of the Day
Do you have any connections to any neurodiverse individuals? If you’re not sure, this includes everything from dyslexia to autism and schizophrenia. If you don’t know much about this, I encourage you to learn more.
Who’s It For?
The book is labeled as Fantasy, but it’s not high fantasy by any stretch. It is extremely low fantasy, in fact, barely fantasy. I’d say urban, but the setting is mostly rural. Maybe realistic fantasy or alternate reality? It’s basically like our world but magic/mysticism is real, and while I am not one of those people, some people do believe that it is – so I’m not sure if it counts as fantasy or not. But if you enjoy family drama, mysticism, magic, found family, coming-of-age stories, and tales of overcoming odds, you will enjoy this story. There is also some fantastic mental health representation in this book.
Content Warning: Suicide/Ideation, Drug/Alcohol Use, Violence, War, Adult Situations, Adult Language. This is not meant to be a full list of all topics that individuals may find offensive or triggering.
About the Author
Victoria Costello’s latest book, Orchid Child blends history, mystery, science, fantasy, and romance to imagine a tragedy-plagued, Irish American family’s youngest member halting the chain of suffering that came before him by tapping his neurodiversity and the ancient wisdom of his Celtic ancestors. Partly autobiographical, in writing Orchid Child, Victoria Costello drew on her own experience as a neurodiverse woman, her genealogy, and the highs and lows of raising two wonderful, now-grown sons as a single mom.
Orchid Child reflects the author’s fascination with ancestry; how the legacies of those who came before us can appear in our lives in mysterious ways, and the challenges faced by second and third-generation descendants of immigrants who wish to understand and reclaim their ancestry. As author Rudy Ruiz wrote in his review of Orchid Child, “Costello artfully weaves together an intimate family saga that spans continents and centuries while reminding us that the deep ties that bind souls together have the capacity to supersede time and space, and – when understood and nurtured – the power to illuminate and heal multigenerational wounds.”
Before turning to fiction, Victoria Costello earned Emmy and American Society of Journalists & Authors Awards for her writing on the environment, neuroscience and psychology. Her feature articles have appeared in Scientific American MIND, Brain World, and Psychology Today. She has blogged on family mental health and parenting for HuffingtonPost, Mamapedia, PsychCentral, All About Psychology, Tween Parent, DivineCaroline, and Yahoo Health & Wellness News.
Links
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/415pT5S
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/orchid-child-victoria-costello/1143103118?ean=9781958901151
Bookshop US: https://bookshop.org/a/25511/9781958901151
Amazon UK: https://amzn.eu/d/b5hO8Ic
Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/orchid-child/victoria-costello/9781958901151
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/129905481-orchid-child
Author Website: https://www.victoriacostelloauthor.com/
As an Amazon (US) and Bookshop.org (US) Affiliate, I may earn on qualifying purchases.
Published by Amorina Carlton. Award-winning American author, Amorina Carlton, is currently working on her first novel. You can find more about her published work and works in progress on the home page. She also serves as the PR/Marketing Lead for Ravens and Roses Publishing, and reviews books, mostly by other indie authors, here and on Bookstagram.