The Garden

The Garden is dying. Once a little piece of orchid paradise, now in the aftermath of the worst hurricane in Florida's living memory, it is shattered greenhouses, creeping mangroves and dangerously idle men. So when Romeo, an expert breeder of the lucrative ghost orchid, arrives from Honduras, keeper of the Garden, Blanchard, and his Irish right-hand man, Swallow, believe their fortunes are on the up.

But Romeo may not be what he seems, and Swallow can't shake the feeling that the newcomer will threaten his privileged position in the Garden's creaking hierarchy. And the ghost orchid is infamously rare, a delicate and endangered species, hidden deep in a sweltering and treacherous cypress swamp, the Fakahatchee Strand. To capture it, Blanchard and Swallow must strike a deal with the leader of the local Seminole tribe, and his dangerously unpredictable nephew, Logan. The tribe are the only ones exempt from the laws protecting the endangered species of the glades, but Logan's wounded pride, and the simmering threat of violence, may just uproot any hope of success. As Blanchard's obsession distracts him from what is truly precious, Swallow's own long-buried traumas test his ability - and desire - to prevent the lust, betrayal and murder that engulf the Garden.

Under a relentless Florida sun, Paul Perry's first solo novel is a tale of smothering power, with loyalty and agency thwarted by the tragic patterns of memory and behaviour. Told in spare, exact prose, The Garden is a modern fable, and a warning about trespassing against nature in the name of profit.