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Chips Hardy

Seaton's Orchid Paperback – March 30, 2022

by Chips Hardy (Author)

31 ratings

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'Hardy opens a revealing window into the ills of Empire and the savagery that mankind can so easily revert to and delivers a true punch to the gut, with fascinating echoes of his Writers Guild screenplay for TABOO, the sequel of which many of us are still eager to see, and the murky jungle epics of Joseph Conrad.'
Maxim Jakubowski, Crimetime
“A finely-paced and haunting story of a man – himself haunted and unsettled by the events of his past – coming to terms with the growing disorder of a world between the wars starting to fracture around him and already drawing towards its own unhappy conclusion. Part Joseph Conrad, part L.P.Hartley, Seaton’s Orchid will appeal to fans of both.”
Robert Edric, prizewinning author

SEATON’S ORCHID from Chips Hardy, co-creator with his son Tom Hardy of the acclaimed TV series “Taboo,” is a powerful, provocative and emotionally raw character portrait of a man haunted by a crime against nature, denied redemption, confronted by polite society, and forced to reconcile memories of a self he can no longer recognise.

Set between WW1 and WW2, SEATON’S ORCHID tells the story of the enigmatic Captain Ainsley Seaton – a retired, much decorated professional solider, amateur explorer and artist living a reclusive life in Highleigh, a charming English village in West Sussex.

Seaton’s quiet existence is shattered when his well-buried past is unexpectedly resurrected over dinner by a shadowy Church diplomat, who seems to know more about Seaton’s history than he does. Forced to re-open chapters of his life that he has been at such pains to forget – from the phantasmal, savage events that unfolded in the deep jungle of the North-West Amazon to the horrors of the Western Front – Seaton withdraws into characteristic seclusion. But the diplomat refuses to let matters lie, and for his own secret purpose will stop at nothing to get to the truth; a truth which reverberates through the village itself, and beyond, with devastating results.

Chips Hardy has written successfully for television, theatre, film and publication. SEATON’S ORCHID reflects upon many of the preoccupations he developed in the acclaimed TV series “TABOO,” which he co-created, wrote and produced with his son, Tom Hardy, and which earned him the Writers Guild of Great Britain award for Best Long Form TV Drama. Here he expands upon his investigation into dislocation and social dysfunction, the dark processes of Empires and their institutions, and the quest for personal redemption for those who have crossed a line of no return.

What the critics said about Hardy's ‘Taboo':

Dark, brooding and consistently brilliant.
The Observer
Taboo is a work of Wicker Man genius. Taboo might be full of grime and torment but it’s also dry-witted, shot through with sharp and knowing one-liners.
The Guardian
The best thing on television…Taboo has a strong plot at its dark heart. You want to know what will happen next, which is refreshing.
The Sunday Times
Dark, compelling and often haunting... one of the more unique and thoughtful offerings of the new year.
Los Angeles Times
A swaggering brute of a costume drama.
Daily Telegraph
One of the most extraordinary, subversive, dramas British television has ever produced.
Daily Mail
Taboo takes the grim and distant world of 19th century London to extremes of darkness and wonder…. If Charles Dickens had been a TV scriptwriter, then he might have come up with something like this.
Daily Express
If you like your historical fiction grim and your cobblestones dirt-caked, if you don’t mind looking into some of humanity’s bleaker facets, this one’s for you.
Boston Globe
It is filled with darkness, danger and mystery, and has a level of quality and import not often seen in television miniseries.
San Francisco Chronicle

Print length

402 pages
Language

English
Publication date

March 30, 2022
Dimensions

5.06 x 1.01 x 7.81 inches
ISBN-10

1908291613
ISBN-13

978-1908291615
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chiselbury (March 30, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 402 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1908291613
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1908291615
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.06 x 1.01 x 7.81 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,496,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #118,545 in Historical Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
31 ratings

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Chips Hardy

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Paradox, dysfunction and the quest for redemption are ever-present themes in his work. Culminating in the hit BBC1 and FX drama series “Taboo”, which he co-created, wrote and produced with his son Tom Hardy. Taboo won him the Writers Guild of Great Britain award for best long form drama. His latest novel “Seaton’s Orchid” is a powerful and provocative portrait of a man haunted by a crime against nature, confronted by polite society, and forced to reconcile memories of a self he can no longer recognise. A previous novel “Each Day A Small Victory”, plots the unyielding quest for survival amongst the wildlife inhabitants of a lay-by on an English country road.

He won a British Comedy Award for work with comedian Dave Allen. His darkly comic play about disability and dislocation – Blue On Blue - was showcased at the Latchmere 503 and revived at the Tristan Bates. His one-woman show about eating disorders “There’s something in the Fridge that wants to kill me” ran notably in the Edinburgh Festival.

Hardy has survived machetes in Guadalupe, bombs in Gaza, local hospitality up the Orinoco, all manner of dangerous social transactions across four continents and many of life’s more dysfunctional behaviour patterns.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

31 global ratings

5 star		87%
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1 star		8%

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CapeCod

Complex. Evocative. Haunting. A Great Read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 23, 2022

Verified Purchase

You never know what to expect when you read a book by an author you've never read before. Sometimes it is a miss. Sometimes it is a hit. This was a bulls-eye.

The book is captivating. The writing is lush and oftentimes poetic. The descriptions of the rainforest and orchids are masterstrokes of small details. The brutality of war and a moment of madness are raw and haunting.

The action shifts in place and time, and at the center of it all is a man named Seaton, who can best be compared to a line in the book: He held his fountain pen clenched between his teeth. The thing was so ancient he knew from experience that it was positively guaranteed to leak into whatever trouser pocket he might slip it into.

And the past leaks like ink into Seaton's life at Sussex and starts churning up the ghosts.

I loved this book. I love the darker edges, the Amazon sequences, and the primal character core of Seaton, all of which make for a great and memorable story.

This is a book to be savored.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A wonderful cross between Somerset Maugham and Agatha Christie

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 6, 2022

A unique and well written story that beautifully unfolds itself and keeps you guessing, and I can pretty much guarantee, you won’t guess correctly…

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Old Norvicensian

Highly original, astonishing.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 2, 2022

Verified Purchase

An astonishing achievement. Fascinating, revealing, surprisingly funny in parts, highly original and beautifully written. Hardy’s description of Amazon jungle is absorbing, captivating and often terrifying. (Spoiler alert: best avoided by people suffering from Myrmecophobia.) Above all this book reveals a basic human truth, one often ignored or denied by some commentators and campaigners intent on destroying lives because of past indiscretions: as personalities we change, we evolve, sometimes our distant past selves are unrecognizable. Chips Hardy enjoyed a successful career as an advertising copywriter; this is very, very different - he’s found his true creative voice. More please.

2 people found this helpful

Jo M

Beautiful, unsettling and thought-provoking

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 18, 2022

Verified Purchase

The story unfolds onto the page as deftly and naturally as the orchid of the title. With a rich vocabulary and a keen eye for the human condition, Chips Hardy masterfully propels the reader along a wondrous journey, encompassing the minutiae and undercurrents inherent in English village life, the humid claustrophobia of the Amazon rainforest and the visceral horrors of the Flanders battlefield. Well-paced, with vibrantly-drawn characters and descriptions that repeatedly fire the imagination, 'Seaton's Orchid' has secured a permanent place on my bookshelf as a book that will be read and savoured time and again. Beautiful, unsettling and thought-provoking.

2 people found this helpful

oana

A book that you would enjoy reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 14, 2022

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this book! Captain Ainsley Seaton's life is chaotic, the action taking place between the two world wars, so a moment of suffering, but countering with a quiet and beautiful village. The drama of the captain during the war is also a life lesson for every reader. Reading about his struggles with his dark past would make you realise how bad the war can be. Mr Hardy is an excellent writer, and I will definitely read his other books in the future.

2 people found this helpful

Bakercaker

No spoilers here!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 23, 2022

Verified Purchase

A beautifully written novel with incredible descriptions. I was transported to the depths of the jungle and back to the south coast. From villages to the Amazon. Intrigue, redemption, empires and society. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and don’t hesitate to recommend, this is also my first review too so it must be good! Thank you Chips for a wonderful novel.

One person found this helpful

Bren

A Captivating Read by an Inspiring Writer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 10, 2022

Verified Purchase

With an almost cinematic feel, this story transports you from the fineries of Laurel House in West Sussex to the beautiful but often dark depths of the Amazon jungle. With a mix of characters from high society busy bodies through to raw and unapologetic members of the Amazon's Okaina tribe, Seaton's Orchid is a brilliantly written adventure that rivals Chips Hardy's on-screen masterpiece Taboo.

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Seaton's Orchid Paperback – March 30, 2022

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Chips Hardy

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