The Orchid & the Wasp by Caoilinn Hughes is a stunning and beautifully written novel that explores the complexities of family, ambition, and identity in a modern-day Dublin setting. This novel is an absolute must-read for anyone who loves richly detailed and nuanced character-driven stories that are both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant.

One of the standout features of this novel is its protagonist, Gael Foess. Gael is a fierce and ambitious young woman who is determined to succeed on her own terms, even if that means sacrificing some of the more conventional aspects of her life. Throughout the novel, we see Gael navigate various personal and professional challenges with grace, intelligence, and a healthy dose of wit. She is a truly memorable character who will stay with you long after you finish reading the book.

Another strength of The Orchid & the Wasp is the author's exceptional writing style. Caoilinn Hughes writes with a lyrical and poetic prose that is both captivating and immersive. Her descriptions of Dublin are particularly vivid, making the city feel like a character in its own right. Hughes has a talent for capturing the subtle nuances of human behavior and emotion, which makes her characters feel fully realized and deeply relatable.

The novel's exploration of themes such as family dynamics, social class, and the pursuit of success is handled with nuance and sensitivity. Hughes does not shy away from the complexities and contradictions of her characters, which makes their journeys all the more compelling. The result is a story that is both deeply personal and socially relevant, tackling important issues in a way that is both intelligent and accessible.

Overall, The Orchid & the Wasp is a truly exceptional novel that deserves all the praise it has received. Caoilinn Hughes has crafted a story that is both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant, with a cast of characters that are complex, relatable, and deeply memorable. If you're looking for a beautifully written and engaging read, look no further than this stunning debut.

I hate to admit that I did not get on with this book. I read approx about 30% of it but could not connect to the main character so I thought I'd park it and return to it at a later stage. That was about 3 months ago and I have not had the inclination to return to it yet. Someday I might but for now this is in my DNF pile.

Loved the main characters you willed them to grow the whole way through the book. Would recommend this book for young adults and older alike.

We first meet Gael Foess, the main character of Orchid & The Wasp by Caoilinn Hughes, when she is suspended from primary school for trying to set up a scheme of selling “virginity pills” to her schoolmates.

This opening scene pretty much indicates what the reader can expect from this character in the rest of the book. Gael is a very assertive, intelligent, and manipulative protagonist. It doesn’t help that she comes from a very privileged background. Her father Jarleth is successful banker, and her mother Sive is a highly regarded orchestral conductor, but they’re both very self-absorbed and distant parents, so Gael is very close and protective of her younger brother Guthrie, a gifted artist, who suffers from a somatic delusional disorder, but believes that he has epilepsy.

The novel is set over a 10-year period, starting in 2002, and follows Gael’s journey moving between Dublin, London, and New York. It mainly focuses on her relationship with her family, and the lengths that she will go to get ahead in life. The book also deals with the consequences of the 2008 global economic crisis, and the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The title of the book is a reference to the concept of the arrangement between an orchid and a wasp, as described by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. At first, I thought that the title might be a reference to the close relationship between Gael and Guthrie, but as I read on, I realised that it actually best describes the relationship between Gael and her father. Jarleth is a cunning businessman, who has his own set of beliefs on how to succeed in life.

“(…) we have a very simple choice to make. Do we aspire to have worth and influence and risk tragedy; or do we aspire towards love and togetherness and risk that it won’t have been enough. You can’t have both aspirations be equally weighted.”

Their relationship feels very competitive. Gael jumps at every chance to criticise his views and tactics, and, at the same time, she is totally oblivious of how closely she resembles her father in her ambitions to succeed, and the (often deceitful) methods that she is ready to use to achieve her goals. In addition, she is determined to also use her skills to further the careers of her mother and brother, even though they don’t welcome or appreciate her efforts.

I must admit that I feel quite conflicted about this book. While Gael is a compelling protagonist to follow because of her almost sociopathic personality and her uncompromising drive to get what she wants in life, at some parts, it became quite tiring to spend so much time with her. I wished that more time was spent on the other characters, particularly Guthrie’s storyline. I found him to be a very intriguing character that could have been explored in more depth.

The book contains some very astute observations about our contemporary society, and makes you think about the limits to which you might be willing to go in order to fulfil your ambitions, however, I struggled to connect with any of these characters on an emotional level. I constantly felt like I was being held at arm’s length from them, but, despite its flaws, I think it’s an impressive debut novel, and Gael is a very unconventional and memorable protagonist. If you are fascinated by unlikeable characters, I suggest you give this book a try.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book via NetGalley.

"Jarleth was involved by then and you know how your father reacts to being told a thing is impossible. Much like you do. And I admire you both for it."

The Orchid and The Wasp is a striking debut, and one that has been very well received by other reviewers whose opinion I respect. But it just was not for me: indeed as a reader who generally dislikes wisecracking narrators, particularly ones whose wisecracks are badly mistargeted, this was for me almost the perfect anti-novel.

It starts promisingly, introducing an Irish family in the early 2000s: two siblings Gael and her younger brother Guthrie (who suffers from a somatic delusional disorder that he has epilepsy), and their mother Sive, a conductor, and their banker father Jarleth (although alarm bells started to ring for me when the paragraph introducing the parents contained a worryingly flawed value judgement):

"His blue eyes were red-rimmed as a seagull’s by the time he finished his homework under the artificial lights of Barclays’ Irish headquarters at 2 Park Place in Dublin’s city centre, just around the corner (though worlds apart) from the National Concert Hall, where they often watched their mother yield a richer kind of equity from her orchestra."

After Gael tries a memorable scam at her school leading to her suspension, Jarleth, sensibly, rather than criticise her for her idea instead focuses on her inefficient use of the time off she has gained as a result.

'You have time to kill because your teachers were too provincial to appreciate your business idea – clever, if low-margin and most certainly age-inappropriate – and now you’d like to fritter away that hard-won time in a shopping centre?'

‘What’s my point, Gael?’ He always managed to keep his full lips – the same ballet shoe colour as the rest of his face – relaxed, even when the words coming out of them weren’t. 

Gael put on her straitlaced voice. ‘My time’s more valuable than the time it would take to walk to Stephen’s Green to go shopping.’

'Good.’
...
‘Do you know what I do for a living ? To put this roof over our heads.’

'Global markets something derivative.’ 

Jarleth laughed at Gael’s unintended joke – granted her the benefit of the doubt. ‘Not anymore, but okay. What I do, Gael, has taught me something no university on the planet could have had on its syllabus. And that is that we have a very simple choice to make. Do we aspire to have worth and influence and risk tragedy; or do we aspire towards love and togetherness and risk that it won’t have been enough. You can’t have both aspirations be equally weighted.’ 

Gael couldn’t respond."

Her mother, by contrast, appears to lack all parenting skills. She is very nicely sketched although not a character where I found any interesting depth, so those parts focusing on her quickly lost my attention. When Gael has her first period she has to manage without any help from Sive:

Sive looked directly at the blood but her grey eyes misted over. ‘Do you . . . need anything?’

‘If by ‘anything’ you mean tampons, advice, hugs, painkillers, a pep talk, a hot chocolate . . . I’ve got myself covered, thanks. But I will take a fifty-euro guilt payment.’

Unfortunately after the opening section, the fascinating Jarleth fades into the background and Gael takes centre stage.

Ones appreciation for the novel will, I think, ultimately depend on one's view of Gael. 

Her nothalfaswittyasthethinkssheis spiel reminded me of the incredibly annoying dentist in Joshua Ferris's To Rise at a Decent Hour, or indeed the 2016 Booker winner.

"Gael was still high on ibuprofen with caffeine, but she could sense how they were close – perhaps only one quip away – from killing however it was they hoped to be."

A typical example is a a false obituary, or 'obittery', she writes on her mother's behalf for Jarleth after he leaves the family home, and which Gale manages to get a newspaper to print:

"Obittery: A Loath Story On Friday 2nd May 2008, Jarleth Moeder Falker Foess, of 24 Amersfort Way, County Dublin, failed to pass the ECG-SE exam of why he should remain plugged in. The IV league of afterlives wouldn’t take him, on account of too much vain. Jarleth was a small man with a large heart attack and a malicious malignant egosarcoma. He deceived experts with his apparent good nature/ health. What were initially believed to be scruples were in fact scabies. Jarleth was a families man, borne by his children, liked by his partner, prayed for by his mother, and dearly preyed on by his girlfriend. He will be sorely miffed."

But my main issue lay with the ill-informed nature of her wit. For example in one of the first set pieces she blags an interview at LBS and one suspects the reader is intended to admire her clever repartee as she trades barbs with her interviewer. But her prepared opening line would, in reality, have led to the immediate termination of the interview on the grounds of statistical illiteracy:

‘Of the forty per cent of interviewees admitted to this MBA,’ Gael says , ‘less than a quarter are female. The odds are one in ten, against me."

Which makes no statistical sense at all. We can't tell precisely without knowing either the % of male candidates or the success rate of men, but the implied success rate for women lies somewhere between (less than) one in seven and 100%.

Does it matter? To me, yes. If your plot has your main character successfully blagging her way through e.g the New York art world, her lines and schemes need to be convincing to the reader and Gael's simply aren't.

Finance and banking is an important backdrop, and Jarleth could have been an interesting character if explored in more depth. Instead we get Gael's views - again not as astute as she believes. One telling quote - "she could openly seethe at everyone’s ignorance" - refers to her fellow Occupy movement members but comes after she has 'explained' the Libor scandal to them in a manner that makes as much sense as her dodgy statistics.

That the daughter of a derivative specialists ends up in the Occupy movement is my personal nightmare. Although here is the book's strong point - the Orchid and Wasp (per Gilles Deleuze’s and Felix Guattari) relationship between Gael and Jarleth that gives the book its title and indeed its inspiration. Despite her best efforts, her father's valuable life lessons inform Gael's views and actions, for example when discussing the likelihood that the Occupy protests succeed with a fellow activist: 

"‘Honestly, Nina?’ She thinks about saying it: I’m an aspiring one-percenter. It’s only sane to be appalled at the country’s dysfunction but, come on, kid. Calling it out gets you nowhere. Enormous calamities cause change. Civil wars. Natural disasters. Not street marches. Once customs are established and prejudices rooted, reform is a dangerous and fruitless enterprise, said Rousseau. The truth brings no man a fortune; and it’s not the people who hand out embassies, professorships and pensions. The people give out pretzels, used clothes and coping mechanisms. Gael wipes the crumbs from her chest and admits, instead, ‘I wouldn’t have your best interests at heart.’"

Overall, a striking but flawed character study of a striking but flawed character. Not a book for any insight into financial markets but one which, depending on personal taste, may appeal. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC, but not a book for me.

Instagram review (longer review on Goodreads):

“...we have a very simple choice to make. Do we aspire to have worth and influence and risk tragedy; or do we aspire towards love and togetherness and risk that it won’t have been enough. You can’t have both aspirations be equally weighted.”.

If you love character-driven literary works of fiction, this will be right up your street. Gael Foess, our protagonist, is a bold, enterprising schemer. We meet her when she is ten years old, offering to sell virginity pills to her fellow classmates. The novel takes us through the next ten years of her life, encompassing the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger in Ireland through to the Occupy Wall Street protest movement in America. She schemes her way to riches, ironically protesting corporate greed even as she aspires to be part of the 1%. But she is also vulnerable, afraid of settling, afraid of being bound by a more sedate way of life by choosing love.

This is also a story of family. At the start of the book, we see a family of four; a rich one-percenter father, a creative composer mother, and Gael’s younger brother Guthrie, who has a delusional disorder. The family becomes fractured, leaving those who remain to struggle. Gael wants more for herself and her family, regardless of whether this is what they want for themselves. It all comes to a head when she shows just how far she is willing to go for the sake of her mo mostly selfish pursuits, trying to justify it to herself along the way.

So if you like books with strong characters, bold female protagonists that are not necessarily likeable, if you’re a reader who’s less about plot, but more about appreciating thoughtful sentences with a poet’s touch, then do check this one out and let me know what you think!

With apologies for name-checking another author in the first sentence, I enjoyed this book in the way I enjoy books by Ali Smith and I mean that as a huge compliment. I am a fan of wordplay and Caiolinn Hughes’ novel has something to love on every page - stylish and classy writing. The central character Gael engaged me from the beginning, her upbringing having instilled in her the belief that anything she achieves will be by her own wits. Though she determines to hold herself apart from others, she can’t resist trying to make her brother’s life better, even though her bold ideas and her values are by no means in accord with his own. I found their relationship touching. I was particularly pleased by the ambivalence of the ending, I had so hoped that it wouldn’t be too neat.

If I have a niggle, it is that the sections in New York with the Occupy movement didn’t engage me much. I could have done without them altogether really and been happy just to get on with the story of Gael and Guthrie and the artwork.

I find it astounding that this should be a debut novel and can’t wait to see what the author tackles next.

This book follows the lives of the Foess family: Sive is the mother and conductor of a symphony orchestra, Jarleth the father is an investment banker, Gael is the precocious daughter and Guthrie the delicate son. Mostly we follow Gael from an eleven year old through to adulthood growing up in Dublin, Ireland but later moving to London and then New York. Guthrie is her younger brother who has fits and thinks he has epilepsy. Sive is often absent as her career takes her around the world and Jarleth leaves the family early on but becomes involved again as the children become older. Sive takes up with Art, another quirky character to join this unusual family.

The writing is excellent for the most part and the character of Gael is often very witty. However, the narrative is very patchy. There were several times in the book when the author lost me and I felt bored but just when I was thinking of giving up, something happened or the dialogue sparkled that propelled me anew. Many subjects are explored in this book: art, music, the Occupy movement, and so on. While these were all enjoyable, I felt that perhaps some of them may have deviated from the overall point of the book which was difficult to discern. Many people who read this will not know of Deleuze or Guattari and their concept of the orchid and the wasp which inspired the title and will miss the connection.

We meet eleven-year-old Gael Foess and her younger brother Guthrie, the children of wealthy but aloof parents (Jarleth, an arrogant and controlling investment banker for Barclays, and Sive, a self-absorbed but gifted principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra) at the point when she is expelled from primary school for running a business flogging “virgin pills” to her classmates.

The story begins in 2002, at the tail-end of the first Celtic Tiger – a period lasting from the mid nineties to the very early noughties when the Republic of Ireland enjoyed rapid economic growth fuelled by foreign investment, which led to a property price bubble. The financial boom brought on a period of fervid spending as Ireland became one of the richest countries in Western Europe and disposable income soared. Now Gael’s family, like the Irish economy, is crumbling about her.

Gael is fiercely intelligent, shockingly precocious and very funny, but her witty banter masks a profound anxiety over the future of her loved-ones; something she conceals from those around her because her father has instilled in her a belief that fear is an unforgivable weakness. Gael seeks but fails to impress him because, what Jarleth really wants is for his vulnerable, gentle-natured son to be ‘a man’ and refuses to accept that he has crippling emotional issues.

From teens to young adulthood, we follow our anarchic protagonist on a journey that takes her from Dublin to London, New York and the birth of the Occupy movement. She dodges emotional entanglements, lacks scruples and very often lands herself in trouble, but always loves her fragile brother. He is the one decent and honest person in her life, though she undoubtedly sees him as her Achilles heel.

Orchid & the Wasp is a dark but highly amusing coming-of-age story, which encompasses sexuality, mental health issues, class, religion and contemporary politics. The prose is vivid and its characters leap off the page, grabbing you by the scruff, but none more so than our furious, artful, spunky heroine, Gael Foess.

Prize-winning Irish poet, Caoilinn Hughes has written a stunningly ambitious debut novel, revealing a considerable talent. If this is a beginning, she is destined for literary greatness.

This is a stunning, beautifully written debut novel, featuring dazzling writing and an unforgettable lead character in Gael. Funny and thoughtful, sharp and tender, this is the best Irish debut since Skippy Dies. Highly recommended.

The Orchid and the Wasp is the story of Gael Foess and her family, rich banker dad Jarlath, orchestral conductor mum Sive and delicate younger brother Guthrie. Gael's parents are frequently absent, either physically or mentally/emotionally from the children and Gael seems a lot older than her years. The story takes place during the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger, an time of major financial upheaval in Ireland for everyone. I found this book to be a good debut, and having lived through the time of the Celtic Tiger and subsequent downturn, a very interesting read from that perspective, but ultimately, overall, I found the book underwhelming. However, I would be interested to read more from this author.

This is an impressive book: emotionally complex; multilayered; and stylishly written. It's essentially a ‘rite de passage’ novel about a young woman, Gael, but it neatly undercuts the genre. Gael has a brother called Guthrie, younger than her and prone to fits. She has become his supporter and defender in place of her rich absent father, Jarleth, and her preoccupied mother, Sive, who is a composer and conductor. The other feature in the book is Art, Sive's new partner.

The book is arranged episodically and straddles almost ten years of Gael's life so we see her change and develop. This is where the title of the book comes in and it relates to the revolutionary evolutionary theories of Felix Guattari which, to summarise disgracefully, suggest that most theories of evolution reflect capitalist models and that the orchid and the wasp are not in a competition for survival but collaboration in the continual act of becoming like one another. 'Becoming' rather than getting somewhere is a key theme in the book and Gael has a nasty sting as well as being attractive.

Gael responds to the world as she sees it, aggressively making her way through a range of situations on the basis of her own judgements about what other people need and want. By the end of it, it is possible to see places where she has gone disastrously wrong. She misjudges Art and fails to make sense of her parents and what they want from life. She tries to act in Guthrie's interests and alienates him. She drives away Harper who wants to be her friend. She often goes for the simplistic truth rather than trying to unravel the complexities of situations. This is the act of becoming, trying stuff out, going down blind alleys and then trying something else.

I really liked that about the novel. We are not presented with a character that gradually becomes finished and polished. In fact, the ending of the book is enigmatic but what we do know is that she has already impacted on the lives of those around her.

In places the book is oddly poetic and, in others, there are arguments to be explored. The concept of negative and positive liberty - which societal doors are open and which are closed - is pivotal for Gael who achieves some outrageous entrances. When Sive explains about why Art is as he is, we realise the complexity of these characters. 'He won't talk about death to people who haven't experienced it. They can't relate and he doesn't want to make them try. That's a generosity. It's the most difficult thing; the existence of life's opposite, hovering over us always as a possibility.' That is good writing and an excellent read.

Caoilinn Hughes has written a character-rich, poetic story that somehow left me feeling slightly underwhelmed and searching for a meaning in the book. The title refers to the metaphor of the Orchid and the Wasp as an assemblage, a de-territorialisation and re-territorialisation between an orchid and a wasp, as defined by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. The hypothesis is that they each depend so much on each other, they start to redefine their beings. I kept trying, unsuccessfully, to recognise that metaphor in the story.

The main protagonist is Gael Foess, and we follow her from age 11 living in Dublin with her brother Guthrie, and her Mum and Dad. One Orchid-Wasp association may be with Gael and Guthrie, but that didn’t really fit even though she is determined and committed to ensuring Guthrie lives the life she deems fit. Gael is an intelligent, articulate, opinionated and dislikeable child, and not much better as an adult. She moves to London for her degree and New York to pursue her avaricious career in the art world. Perhaps the Orchid-Wasp assemblage is Gael and her art-world career. Possibly the lines start to blur as art gets corrupted. She operates alongside beautiful inspiring art while also stealing, manipulating and conning people and situations around her.

Guthrie is a frail and reserved boy one year younger than Gael. He has seizures and the family convince him it’s a result of epilepsy, treating him with placebo drugs in order to hide the real diagnosis of a somatic delusional disorder. The novel progresses in time periods, years apart, and the story goes into great depth with topics and issues that are sometimes interesting and sometimes ramble. Guthrie’s illness is ultimately used as a leverage by his opportunist sister and the big plan is enacted.

There is no doubt that Caoilinn is a superb author and her writing skills are destined for prize-winning recognition. In nearly every page, there is prose you want to highlight and return to again and again. Put together in a book, I just didn’t feel it was engaging, cohesive and evolving, which is a strange paradox.

Many thanks to Oneworld Publications and NetGalley, for an ARC version of the book in return for an honest review.

Orchid and the Wasp is a maelstrom of a novel featuring Gael older protective sister of the delicate Guthrie. Gael is an unflinching anti-heroine who I admired for her ability to address situations in a world that still treats women as second rate citizens. Formidable intelligence combined with her own sense of self create a character well worth reading about. The language Caoilinn Hughes uses is at times lyrical often poetic and is a joy to read. The book appears disjointed at times but I believe this to be the author's construct to both endear and confuse the reader. I am deliberately not talking about the plot as I think each reader will take something different from this wonderful novel. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Orchid & the Wasp is an accomplished debut novel. It is very confidently written, although it is not always clear what is going on. This makes a great companion to Darragh Martin's Future Popes of Ireland, which is also set in Ireland and New York during the same time period. Both are against the backdrop of the sub-prime mortgage driven crash, and subsequent austerity.
Capitalism is under the cosh here, although no lessons are learnt, or villains thwarted. The banks were bailed out, bonuses were paid out and world hasn't gone back to normal since.
The Foess Family are the centre of this story. Gael is the hero of this story. She is a hustler, and seems to make it up as she goes along to glorious effect. To quote Bruce Robinson's Thomas Penman, she has been “brought up like vomit”, by the most awful parents. Jarleth and Sive are so far up their own fundaments, the best Gael can hope for is benign neglect from Mum and aggression from Dad.
Key scenes show how crappy their parenting is. Gael, aged 11, walks in on Jarleth, who has just finished in the shower. He stands there, tumescent, and educates her on his infidelity and the parlous state of his (not) marriage. The scene is shocking in its' specificity. When Gael starts her period, she goes to see her mother. There is no sympathy, and no warmth from Sive, who is only engaged with her music.
Her younger brother Guthrie is brutally treated by Jarleth. What Dad sees as teachable moments to toughen him up are thinly veiled abuse. Sive is a conductor who is always away, while Jarleth is a merchant banker, and something else that rhymes with that. When the market crashes, Jarleth abandons the family for London. Sive reacts by flaking out and going to bed.
It is down to entrepreneurial Gael to make something happen. She knows from her father that capitalism is a rigged game, and sets out to make her mark. After getting her degree in London, and dodging love when offered, she finagles a first-class ticket to New York. What follows is a bravura display of chutzpah. Guthrie has had a terrible time back home, and Gael wants to transform his life in a single gamble.
In New York, we get a great exploration of the Occupy movement, another brush with love and an expose' of the art market. The book ends in triumph for Gael and Guthrie, whose story is so much more complicated than first appeared. Jarleth makes one last appearance. Like the banks, there are no consequences for him.

Orchid and the Wasp is a captivating work, with its delicate but straight- talking style and fascinating characters. Gael, in particular, bursts into your life and from the outset this feels like a smart and funny novel, and not just for the sake of it.
Caoilinn Hughes makes no allowances for her readers, hers is a book which relates conversations between characters first and explains the background later. The musical allusions are pleasing, noteworthy is the danger of razors and Sibelius.
The intricate description of the New York gallery pays off, you could be there, but this cameo is diminished by a long trail of characters to be learnt.
Between Gael’s return from New York and the ending, there was light shed on the relationship between her mother and Art, and their lives but I couldn’t settle with Guthrie, which was rather the whole point.
An interesting read, but more for its individual parts than as a sum of them.
Thanks to NetGalley UK and Oneworld

Orchid and the Wasp is a completely character driven novel. We spend ten or so years in the company of Gael Foess, a smart, sassy Irish girl growing up through the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger. We open with Gael as an 11 year old girl selling “virginity” pills to her school friends to restore their hymens. Whether they work or not is immaterial – they work for Gael.

Then we meet Gael’s immediate family, her father Jarlath, a senior banker with Barclays, and her mother Sive, an internationally renowned orchestral conductor. Gael’s brother Guthrie is a delicate boy who is bullied at school. Gael seems to draw strength from her parents’ expectations, Guthrie seems to have given up trying.

Gael, like so many of her Gaelic ancestors, sets off to seek her fortune first in England and then in New York. Although she never takes success for granted, she displays no fear of failure. She is willing to blag, cheat and blackmail her way to the top. She’s like a computer gamer, wanting to get off to the fastest start possible or die in the attempt. She is willing to bet her last cent on an outside chance - she’s not even gambling on red and black, she’s putting her chips on the numbers. Except she knows the House has the edge, so she has to become the House.

There is a plot; it’s based on art and it only really starts half way through the book. Up until that point it is all just establishing the scene. While that happens, the reader may wonder whether it is going anywhere at all – the answer is oh yes, it certainly is!

But the plot is not the selling point. It’s the sidetracks within sidetracks. The romance with Harper, the start of the Occupy movement, the bohemian art forger. It is a comic delight in the same vein as The Sellout and Joshua Ferris. There are witty references and word games aplenty.

And at the end, the reader realises that Gael is not the grotesque and greedy figure we first imagined. Yes, she is a complete con artist. But only because she enjoys the conning; the rewards are incidental and can be given away lightly. We love her for it, but deep down we know that it is not a sustainable business model. Gael is Ireland, born of the earls and the Sidhe, her heart is captured by a Harp, her future uncertain but the present day is a gas.

Orchid and the Wasp is a fabulous novel and must be one of the best of 2018. It deserves to win prizes. Booker, anyone?

Orchid & The Wasp is a novel about what people want, the means of getting there, and what you don't really know about your loved ones. It follows Gael Foess, daughter of a banker and a composer and sister to a fragile younger brother Guthrie, as she grows up in Ireland, moves to London and New York, and battles to get what she wants and what she wants for other people.

Gael is an interesting protagonist, forceful and chancy, cynical and often misguided. The narrative takes her through the financial crisis, birth of the Occupy movement, and hints of the Silk Road, making it often feel like a look back at recent past. Except her, most of the major characters have had a lot of bad things happen in their lives, and there is a lot of time spent with Gael misunderstanding them or not knowing the full picture, colouring her attempts to work out what they want. She isn't a protagonist who is particularly sympathetic, but rather one who is caught up in her own world, acting the part that she thinks will get her where she wants to be.

Orchid & The Wasp is a novel that will appeal to those looking for a book that explores modern values of earning things, family, and class, or for a flawed female protagonist. The writing style is distinctive, but sometimes the reading experience seems to drag, the narrative taking too long to get places.

Sorry but i just couldn't get into this book. Gave up at 40%. Sounded great from the description but it just wasn't for me at this time.

The novel begins with Gael as an unrealistically precocious pre-teen but then picks up when she is a young adult struggling with her relationships with her mum, dad and brother. The believability falters again with sections involving male rape by a woman and a money-spinning art heist. Her writing is at its strongest when she pares back from these overblown plot attempts and I would imagine her next novel to be more readable.