Where Orchids Bloom, what is it?
For my first blog, which took a bit too long for me to get around I admit, I thought a good starting point what be answering a simple question: What exactly have a spent half of a year of my free time writing?
If you had asked me that question last week, I’d have said something like, A sapphic romance that explores an age-gap relationship seriously and explores how the two characters, Lucy and Ann, fell in love. But now, I don’t think that works. Since, even though Where Orchids Bloom has a romance at its core, that romance is only one part of a much bigger picture.
Now, I fully admit my know how of the publication world is not that deep. I have done my research and looked things up, so apologize if I get something wrong. But with that out of the way, I would say Where Orchids Bloom is a work of upmarket fiction that gives an intimate portrait of a sapphic age-gap relationship that explores aging, self-worth, family estrangement, and the obligations that can take root inside domestic love.
Now, what does that mean?
From what I can tell, upmarket fiction basically takes a story commonly found in genre fiction, genre romance or suspense for instance, and applies a literary fiction lens to it. A good example of that is that in Where Orchids Bloom, while it uses many standard romance tropes. At its core, the story is more about the internal struggles Lucy and Ann go through as they come to terms with their relationship, not the standard story of how they got together.
Next up, how is Orchids Bloom an intimate story? It intimate because the narrative uses a close third-person POV that often jumps into the head of either Ann or Lucy. This allows the reader a full grasp of what Lucy and Ann are thinking in the moment, as well as what they see, smell, and hear as they go about life. Things like Ann’s back pain, or Lucy’s confusion when she meets Ann for the first time. But this internality is only for the POV character. In Ann’s chapter, you only never get to see what’s going on in Lucy’s head, only the context clues.
Then for last, I want to talk about one theme of Where Orchids Bloom: aging. This is done through a common romance trope: age-gap. In most romance stories, writers depict that age-gap simply as an exotic element to enhance the story. It can also serve as another roadblock for the two lovers’ interests to get together. And in Where Orchids Bloom, that is very much the case, but not for the usual reasons.
Since while people do make comments about Lucy and Ann being together throughout the book, society itself doesn’t stop them from being together. What makes it hard for Lucy and Ann to get together is Ann, who struggles to come to terms with someone so much younger wanting her. She also has other reasons she struggles to accept Lucy’s feelings, but that is a topic for another day.
But the age gap doesn’t just play into the story of how they got together; it also puts stress on the relationship once together. Since a major theme or plotline of the story is that Ann is very much aware of how much younger Lucy is, and it pushes her to do things for Lucy. Things that Lucy may not want Ann to actually do.
With that all said, what is Where Orchids Bloom about?
It’s about the human condition, and yes, I know that how much that makes me sound full of myself. But I say it because I think it’s true. Ann and Lucy are given numerous pages to explore what they’re going through. The fears and worries that plague us all: fears of aging and self-worth. But also of stealing away tender moments with those you care about when you can. To share in this human condition with someone you love and want to be part of your life, and at its core, that is what Where Orchids Bloom is about.
Thank you for reading my first blog. Not sure how often I will send these out, and I need to figure out to let you sign up to be notified when I write another…
But if you want to follow this blog, you can follow my Bluesky account (@jamiemolson.bsky.social), and I’ll make a post there whenever I write a new blog post. You’ll also be able to hear any news about the book if I can make something of this story. Hopefully, I can, but only time will tell.
Jamie