Steller's Orchid - by Thomas McGuire (Paperback)

About the Book

A packet of letters discovered in the frame of an eighteenth-century Chinese painting starts a search in western Alaska for a remarkable orchid.

Book Synopsis

In 1924, John Lars Nelson travels to the Shumagin Islands in the Gulf of Alaska. He tells people he is doing a botanical survey, but the real goal of his quest is a mysterious orchid described by a naturalist in 1741 and never again seen. During his journey, John Lars hitches a ride on a schooner whose bootlegger captain has a hidden past. John Lars also meets a young Aleut woman, Natasha Christiansen. She becomes his guide and leads him to question the validity of everything he thought he knew. Together, they reach Nagai Island where the search for the orchid comes to a violent conclusion.

Review Quotes

"I learned more about life in the Aleutians 100 years ago from Tom McGuire's page turner Steller's Orchid than I did from a decade living in Alaska. In the course of drawing us in to the quest of John Lars, a young orchid seeker, McGuire subtly reveals how we arrived at the Alaska of today.. This adventurous, unforgettably original and so human saga has more than a few moments of erudite ad poetic narrative. Steller's Orchid teaches us how and why commoditized plants have been transported around the world to comprise the modern agricultural landscape. McGuire's narrative culminates in an exciting climax set in one of the most remote spots on the planet, a fitting end to a book that is as much about the nature of life and love as orchid hunting and ambition." --Doug Fine, author Farewell, My Subaru and Too High to Fail

"Steller's Orchid most definitely deserves a spot among the best of contemporary Alaska fiction. It's a perfect example of literature that can entertain while also teaching about place, history and the human heart." --Nancy Lord of Anchorage Daily News

Chilkat Valley News

It's 1924, and Yale botany student John Lars Nelson embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to Alaska's remote Shumagin Islands in search of a brilliant red orchid that may or may not exist. Little does he realize that finding a flower in the arctic would be a matter of life and death.
In Nelson, Tom McGuire has created a smart, capable, and endearing narrator for this old-fashioned adventure, mystery, and coming of age novel.
Steller's Orchid is authentically Alaskan and refreshingly original. It belongs on the shelf with Eowyn Ivey's To the Bright Edge of the World and Lynn Schooler's Walking Home.
I just finished Steller's Orchid, and I enjoyed it so much that I'd like to read it again.
--Heather Lende