In Origins of Desire in Orchid Fens, Lynn Hutchinson Lee packs a lot into a small space. Told as a series of short, lyrical chapters, this dark fantasy novella explores life as a Romany woman in Canada. The story is told in an unconventional style, with one hundred very short chapters. This creates a mosaic effect, leaving gaps to be filled in by the reader. At the same time, this method dispenses with a lot of inconsequential material, focusing on the essentials.
The through-line of the story is about a young Romany woman named Orchid Lovell who is careful to keep her heritage secret, for fear of being driven out of yet another town due to prejudice. As the book opens, Orchid has a job tending orchids for the Galveston family. She has also discovered a love for the orchid fen near the town. At the fen, she encounters magical women called the panni raklies. These are the spirits of dead women who seek revenge on the men who murdered them by luring them into the fen.
As the book progresses, Orchid’s mother shares some of their family history, highlighting the hostility the Romany people have historically endured. Because of the need for secrecy, Orchid feels powerless to fight back when a co-worker makes racist comments about the Romany people after watching episodes of a show called My New Improved Gypsy Wedding.
Orchid falls in love with a man named Jack, who also appreciates the beauty of the orchid fen. Jack, like many of the men in town, works at the local mine. When miners start to fall ill, Jack and other members of the union push back, with rising tensions between miners and owners leading to hostile acts.
“Origins of Desire in Orchid Fens resonates with a sense of place, most vividly in the fen itself, but also in descriptions of the town and of the places Orchid lives.”
The book devotes some chapters to the orchid fen itself. Readers come to understand more about the plants and living creatures that call the fen home. If a proposed mine expansion goes forward, the fen will become the repository of toxic compounds. Though the bio-diverse fen is discounted as unimportant by many humans, Origins of Desire in Orchid Fens illustrates its value as a place with its own inherent beauty.
Origins of Desire in Orchid Fens resonates with a sense of place, most vividly in the fen itself, but also in descriptions of the town and of the places Orchid lives—first her mother’s house, and then Jack’s place. The local tavern where the men gather to drink has its parallels in many small Ontario towns.
The novella also explores relationships and the way they can strain loyalties. After marrying Jack, Orchid is pulled in different directions by the demands of her ailing mother and her husband. Obligation, guilt, self-sacrifice, and compromise are convincingly portrayed.
As a fantasy novella, this book skilfully blends the real and the fantastic, spending some time in the borderline between the two.
Origins of Desire in Orchid Fens is billed as a dark fantasy novella. Normally, I’m cautious about the amount of “dark” I’m willing to explore, but I found this book well within my tolerance levels. Offering an inventive format and often-lyrical prose, Origins of Desire in Orchid Fens is a memorable read, particularly for those who enjoy writing that explores social justice and environmental issues.
About the Author
Lynn Hutchinson Lee was first place winner of the 2022 Joy Kogawa Award for Fiction. Her writing is published in Room, Weird Horror, Fusion Fragment, Northern Nights (Undertow Publications), Prairie Fire’s 50 Over 50, Guernica’s This Will Only Take a Minute (winning the Editor’s Choice Award), and elsewhere. She is co-editor of Through the Portal: Tales From a Hopeful Dystopia (Exile Editions). Following Origins of Desire in Orchid Fens, her novel Nightshade, shortlisted for the 2023 Guernica Prize, will be released by Assembly Press in 2026. She lives in Toronto with her partner. Visit her at www.lynnhutchinsonlee.ca.
About the Reviewer
Lisa Timpf lives in Simcoe, Ontario, where she writes poetry, book reviews, short stories, and creative nonfiction. Lisa’s speculative poetry collections Cats and Dogs in Space (2025) and In Days to Come (2022) are available from Hiraeth Publishing in print and electronic formats. Lisa is a member of SF Canada and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. You can find out more about her writing projects at http://lisatimpf.blogspot.com/. Lisa is also on Bluesky, @lisatimpf.bsky.social
Book Details
Publisher: Stelliform Press
Publication date: April 22, 2025
Language: English
Print length: 142 pages
ISBN-10: 1738316513
ISBN-13: 978-1738316519