The Orchid House, by Lucinda Riley is a novel that sprawls across decades and continents, from England to Thailand. We meet Julia, a famous pianist suffering the terrible loss of her husband and young son. During her grieving, she finds herself back at Wharton Park, a grand English Manor where her grandfather was the gardener and she spent her summers when she was growing up.

As her story unfolds, so does the true and secret story of her grandparents past. Wharton Park becomes a main character, central to the book. I loved both settings in England and Thailand, but by the end of the book, there were so many hard to follow twists and turns in the plot I found myself a little lost and failing to quite believe or care about any of it.

A decent enough debut novel, but could have been so much better.