A black orchid – the last of its kind – is a key character in this debut novel based around a group of women who have retreated into an isolated forest during the 1990s.

Frank is part of an off-the-grid feminist community that has hidden itself away from society and is living back-to-basics on the mountain. They have been there for decades, with women coming and going over the years. Frank has retreated to an even more isolated spot three hours away with her dog Chicken Midnight, a delightful character who speaks to her telepathically. Frank’s mid-50s body is slowly starting to fail her, but she resists support, despite her niece Mila checking on her every few months and encouraging her to visit a doctor.

One day, Frank discovers a black orchid, pulsating and vibrating life, and snaps a polaroid of it. In the main community there is a period of fecundity and sexual frenzy that inspires the women to rub themselves against plants and trees in the forest. Not long after, nine women are pregnant – seemingly immaculate conceptions. The children they give birth to are strange, don’t speak, and don’t look directly at anyone, but are much loved; all except Mila’s child – the only male – who is treated with suspicion.

With lush, evocative writing that recreates the landscape in an erotic rendering, and the black orchid always watching and waiting, this is a startling debut that immerses the reader in the forest and its many challenges.

For readers who enjoyed The Animals in that Country and The Natural Way of Things, this is beautifully written, feminist fiction that will keep you turning the pages right up until the surprising conclusion.