The Life and Death of Orchids: A Novel

What does it mean to be a sister? How do we move through grief when we are so unprepared for this inevitable pain of our lives? What is lost and what is gained when we feel what once made us whole is ripped away from us? The Life and Death of Orchids is a novel that attempts to answer these questions. Katherine’s older sister Lily is her foundation, her heart, her true-North. They plan their lives in tandem, but when Katherine goes to college, she realizes that she may want to make her own life independent of her sister’s influence. In her second year, Lily dies of a heart attack. Overwhelmed by the guilt she feels for pulling away from her sister and her own grief, Katherine spirals, searching for ways to make herself whole once more now that her sister is gone. The Life and Death of Orchids is a careful documentation of grief and healing, displaying the most painful particulars of how we cannot move on after grief, but we can move forward into a new life.