This is the story of 3 white sisters who grew up on the island of Dominica. It is narrated by their former nursemaid Lally. She tells the story of their childhood, and of what happens after each of the sisters returns to the island as an adult.

I have the sense that this is an excellent book. However, what I wanted to read was a book ab out an idyllic childhood on a tropical island. There was a tiny bit of that, but the book was much more a political and historical treatise about Domenica, partially reflecting the author's own life. She was raised on Dominica, and returned as an adult, became involved in politics (as an ardent socialist), and founded Dominica's first political party. It was also rather darker than I was looking for: their father was a drug addict who squandered the family's livelihood; the love interest was dying of TB. It was not a book I looked forward to coming back to, and I had to force myself to keep reading. At a different time, under different circumstances, with different expectations, I think I would have liked it a lot more.

3 stars ( )

Phyllis Shand Allfey was born on the island of Domenica and this novel is said to have been based on her own early life. Born into an elite white family she nevertheless saw herself as a West Indian, and was a socialist activist, journalist and Dominican politician. She also wrote several collections of poetry and a collection of short stories.

The story is largely narrated by Lally, the ageing Dominican nurse who supervised the growing up of three white, Creole sisters at Maison Rose with their mother and war damaged father, in the years following the First World War. Maison Rose is a house is full of characters, Christophine the cook, her son Baptiste, her daughter Olivet and Buffon the boatman – who have all been around the family for years. The house is steeped in memories for Lally, memories of when Miss Stella, Miss Joan and Miss Natalie were children, waiting their father’s return from the war, playing with their childhood friend Andrew. Now Lally’s working days should be at an end, but she can’t resist one last return to Maison Rose when she hears the young ladies she cared for in their infancy are returning.

“Madam sat down in my one room house and told me why she was happy. ‘Lally, the children are coming home to visit us,’ she said. ‘Imagine, Lally, after all this while we shall see the children again. For many weeks we have been making plans, and letters have been passing between us. And now, it seems to be coming true.’
‘It’s a long while,’ I said.
‘But you know the reasons,’ Madam said. ‘You know the reasons, Lally.’
Madam was right. I knew all the reasons; for she had never kept anything from me. I knew that Miss Stella and Miss Joan had married poor men and had babies, and Miss Natalie had married rich old Sir Godfrey, but before she could even have a baby the awful thing had happened, the car had gone over the cliff and Sir Godfrey had died. ‘And how are you feeling, Lally?’ asked Madam. ‘A little stronger?’
‘I never felt better,’ I told her. For I guessed what she was going to ask of me, and joy took away the ache in my stomach and the stiffness in my legs. I would nurse Madam’s grandchildren before I died. I would see Miss Stella, Miss Joan and Miss Natalie again.”

In the past, Lally watched her precious girls grow up amid the lush vegetation of their island home – running in and out of the Orchid house at their grandfather’s home L’Aromatique nearby. As young women, each of them left for England or America, married men Lally can’t quite envisage, the youngest sister now a widow, bringing much needed money into the family. Now Lally awaits their return, each sister expected on long awaited visits, two of them with young sons in tow – their husbands left behind. Lally is a wise, watchful old woman, not much gets past her – it never did. In the days before Miss Stella arrives – the eldest of the sisters, and also Lally’s favourite – she remembers fondly those far off days when the house rang with the voices of the three young sisters. She remembers the return of the master from the war – damaged, clearly suffering from shell shock, he came to rely heavily upon the wares peddled by the sinister Mr Lilipoulala who arrives from Port au Prince with the mail boat. The master is still in thrall to Mr Lilipoulala – of whom Miss Stella was always so afraid – he too is expected in the coming days.

The sisters each still love the same man, Andrew, the friend of their childhood, who stayed on the island, and now lives at Petit Cul-de-Sac, with Cornélie the sisters’ mixed-race cousin, and their child. Andrew, sick with TB does little but lie around the garden of their tiny home. Once the sisters whispered to Cornélie through the railings of her convent school, now Cornélie regards each of them with some suspicion.

“The house was empty of men. It was a house of women, like Maison Rouge in the old days. Madam had said to me that the girls would bring life to the place. They had brought more than that – they had brought sons and torment and love complications beyond the endurance of an old dark-skinned Methodist like me.”

Stella arrives first with her son Hel – beautiful, romantic and nostalgic for the days of her girlhood, Stella wastes no time in seeking out Andrew. Back in America, her German husband and his family await her return at the farm where she has been living a not very easy life. Now, returning to the place where she could always find solace she reflects on her marriage, and whether she wants to return to the farm. Joan arrives next from England, bringing her young son Ned with her. Ned, wakens something in his war damaged grandfather – making a touching connection which surprises everyone. Joan, brings her political activism with her – desperate to bring unions into the lives of local workers. Natalie arrives last, by sea plane, a very wealthy young widow, she brings Eric – her Canadian pilot lover with her. The island works its magic on each of the sisters in turn, leaving something of themselves behind them. ( )

A lovely Virago Modern Classic set on the island of Dominica where three sisters come home to deal with issues with the men in their lives that stayed on the island. ( )

This autobiographical novel is set during the decline of the colonial era on an unnamed Caribbean island which, if it isn't Dominica, is modeled on it. The story is mostly narrated by an English-speaking (as opposed to French-speaking) black nurse, Lally. She is called out of retirement to care for the sons of two of the three daughters she had nursed for the family when they were children. Life changed for the family after World War I. The Master, when he finally returned, was suffering from what would today be called post-traumatic stress, from which he never recovered. The three daughters left the island when they reached adulthood. Years later, they're all returning. First comes Stella and her son, with her romantic/nostalgic bent. Then Joan with her son, bent on organizing the island's black laborers. Finally the wealthy widow, Natalie, arrives. Each daughter tries to save what's left of the family in her own way.

Although Allfrey descended from the white colonial ruling class, her sympathies were with the black laborers. Her life was much like that of the novel's middle daughter, Joan. Allfrey's novel depicts the shifting balance of power between the downwardly mobile European colonial rulers, the upwardly mobile mixed race population, the black population still stuck at the bottom, and the Catholic Church. ( )

Three daughters return to Dominica, 26 January 2015

This review is from: The Orchid House (Paperback)
The story of a white Creole family in 1930s Dominica - the Master is a broken man after World War I, reliant on his drug supplier, who has leeched most of the wealth out of the family. Near neighbour, Andrew, is dying of tuberculosis.
And then the three grown-up daughters return separately to visit: lovely Stella, bringing her little son from America; Joan, with her child from England, eager to continue her political activism among the poor of Dominica. And finally Natalie, a rich widow.
Narrated by Lally, the old black nurse - herself ill - who has been re-employed to care for the children, this book promised great things. I found Lally a strong character, and the sense of the humidity and abundance of the island gave it a real sense of place. However I found all the daughters rather silly and unbelievable, and really couldn't care about any of them.
The quote on the back cover from the Sunday Times, that it is 'Reminiscent of The Wide Sargasso Sea' was to my mind a great exaggeration; apart from being set in the same country, Jean Rhys' work is far superior. ( )