Orchids in the Snow is narrated by Andrea Randall, wife of Colonel Larry Randall, a B-52 pilot in the U.S. Air Force. Andrea has been by Larry's side for twenty-three years, dutifully serving as helpmate and mother, moving from base to base, coping with Larry's combat tour in Vietnam, contributing her time to the activities of the Officers' Wives Club, and raising their two children.
The novel is set in September 1982 at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, where Andrea is alone because Larry has taken a one year, unaccompanied tour to Turkey. The Randall's son, Brian, is now a B-52 Bomber pilot like his father and their daughter, Tricia, is a sophomore in college. Andrea has an established circle of friends, community activities to keep her busy, and is near Tricia. She resents Larry's decision to go to Turkey alone, but accepts it as necessary for his career and presumes the year will pass uneventfully. Then she meets Sam.
Sam -- Samantha Dearden -- is a Department of the Air Force civilian employee who arrives from Washington, D.C., where she worked in the Pentagon. She is ten years younger than Andrea, divorced, a single mother, openly snubs conventional behavior with her nonchalant promiscuity, and is altogether an unlikely companion. Yet Sam's cavalier attitude is combined with perceptive warmth, and she recognizes a need in Andrea to perhaps move beyond the narrow part she has played in life.
Sam introduces Andrea to a "Cheers-like" group of younger Air Force officers who routinely meet at the Officers' Club for drinks, dinner and conversation. Big Mac, Hank, Ginny, and Paula are single and part of a changing Air Force; the new generation, untried in combat, more open in their views of sex, love, and marriage. Andrea is simultaneously interested and puzzled as she wonders if the freedom and choices they face are better than the social constraints she occasionally feels.
Andrea is initially reluctant to join the group, unable to believe she has anything in common with them. She is, however, intrigued by the idea and is aware that for the first time in her adult life she has free time on her hands since the family duties which traditionally consumed her have virtually disappeared. The group doesn't treat her as "the Colonel's wife", and during the months that pass, the reader watches Andrea open up and enter a time of personal growth.
It is also a period of conflict, however, for there are moments when Andrea withdraws, uncomfortable with the feelings she experiences with Sam's disregard for public opinion. It is difficult for her to understand Sam's philosophical advice of, "you get drunk, you get laid, and you get over it," when Paula's romantic hopes are unfulfilled. Andrea is torn between her affection for Sam and the opinions of those who disapprove of her lifestyle.
Yet, even as Andrea begins to expand her concept of what is morally acceptable, she discovers her husband, Larry, disapproves of her new friends, and there are indications he may be having an affair with a female Captain in Turkey. Her marriage and the security she has known is threatened, a possibility she had previously considered remote. Could it be her life has been built on a false foundation which is crumbling? The more she sees around her, the less certain she is about her own life, about the clash between surface appearances and the truth beneath social niceties.
Andrea's doubts about Larry are fueled by a series of disturbing coincidences and her struggle with her unforeseen trauma is further complicated when Sam becomes involved in an explosive situation that could have serious personal consequences. The subsequent emotional turmoil surrounding these events forces Andrea to re-examine the views she had always accepted as unshakable truths. It is this examination that causes Andrea to better understand how she truly feels about herself and those close to her.
From the Author
I like to think of Orchids in the Snow as a dual story; a story of the family side of the military and the story of the types of choices woman can make for their lives.
When I was commissioned as a second lieutenant, I played a variety of roles in the military first as a single woman in a non-traditional field, then as a part of a dual military couple, then as a single mother and now again as a wife. I was in the first wave of the Post-Vietnam military and had a very small part in helping open the way for women to hold many of the jobs they do today. Despite my early focus on trying to be successful in an unfamiliar environment, I also recognized that for so many of the military wives, their roles were equally structured even though they had no official positions. The military has undergone noticeable social change in the past twenty years, notwithstanding the occasional headline-making scandals, and I wanted to provide a look at that community.
Yet the situations that the women in Orchids face are by no means confined to the military and are common to women across many segments of society. From the questions of mid-life and an empty nest that the narrator deals with, to the search for the ideal man that the character of Paula is engaged in, the women must each determine what choices are right for them. Orchids is meant to celebrate both self-awareness and the value of friends and family.
I realize that men will probably think of Orchids as women's fiction, but so far the men that have read it have enjoyed it. It does give insight into how differently men and women may view an identical event and how easy it is to allow miscommunication to impact decisions.
Orchids is designed to be a book for giving; give it to yourself, give it to a friend or relative that you like and most especially it's for couples who have been together for awhile who might have slipped into a bit of a routine and perhaps don't say "I do love you" as often as they used to.
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