The Seven Orchids - Softcover

Macmillan, Ian

3.71

28 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0910043736 ISBN 13: 9780910043731

Publisher: Bamboo Ridge Press, 2005

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Fiction. A young woman tries to rebuild her life after moving away from Waikiki and the excesses of a self-destructive lifestyle with her drug-dealing boyfriend. She moves temporarily to her father's Molokai beach home, a ramshackle old house complete with an overgrown orchid hothouse and an ancient koa canoe. There she uncovers the remnants of a tragic love storywhich inspires a ragtag team of paddlers to take on the channel race and in so doing rebuild their lives. "I may never race a koa canoe from Molokai to Oahu, but if there's any writer in the world that can make me feel the blisters as though I alreadyhave, that writer is Ian MacMillan. This is also a novel of the deepest concern for the human condition, of the importance of love and dignity, a novel that strikes at the heart of why we keep at being alive"--Robert Barclay.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

"If Hemingway were alive and reporting on the Na Wahine O Ke Kai canoe race, he would sound like Ian MacMillan. This book is more than a collection of literary gems, however; it includes one of the most endearing love stories ever written. All paddlers and every woman should read The Seven Orchids." -- Steven Taylor Goldsberry

"The koa canoe is one of the most important symbols in Hawaiian culture today, a link between Hawai'i's simpler past and its sophisticated present. Ian MacMillan takes us over to Molokai'i, where a crew of misfit paddlers, women who are dealing with alcoholism, divorce, depression, and more, find an old koa canoe stored in a rundown shed. In a powerful and gripping story centered on the canoe, MacMillan puts us in the boat with the crew. First, we train, and then we paddle in the world championship of outrigger canoe racing, the Molokai'i to O'ahu race. A symbol of life, the koa canoe changes each woman, helping each of them to refocus their lives. . . . The Seven Orchids entertains and educates us at the same time. You couldn't ask for more." -- John Clark

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.