The Orchard is a first person narrative about a group of women of varying ages with artist biography and an Eastern European legend thrown in. Reading the first two-thirds of it is painful. There's no clarity or structure and the narrative style is cloying. There are a few good feminist points but it mostly comes across as airy-fairy drivel like an advertisement for self-fulfillment through crystal-healing and astral travel. Critics have noted the blending of fiction and reality. Unfortunately, this doesn't work in the book's favour. Yet Modjeska is a skilled storyteller. The last part of The Orchard is a memoir of days spent in an English girls boarding school and it's good. Too bad you have to wade through so much crap to get to it. ( )

This is a beautifully written, wise and complex book. I read it with my Book Club last year, and then went out and bought my own copy - it will be one of the few books that I shall read a second time. Truly unique, she interweaves fact with fiction, essays with storytelling, biography with intellectual and feminist theory. Covering areas such as identity, adultery, solitude, education and autonomy, it is not an easy read; but definitely worth the effort. ( )