So I was so so excited to get this book. It’s like the ONLY book I’ve ever read that has Ecuadorian characters.  It’s always Mexican/Dominican/Puerto Rican since those are the most common in the US. But this was a whole family of them. Plus the family and the author were from Guayaquil, Ecuador! Just where my mom was from so it was like fate that I needed to read this. And I wasn’t the only one excited, my aunt got excited too and wanted to know which town the author was from on the off chance she heard of her. 

Now on to the actual review of the first book I finished for 2022. This was a great story imbued with magical realism. It was centered with dual storylines between the past and present. The past was from the POV of the titular Orquídea Divina, a most unlikely woman who leaves her home and hopefully her bad luck as she tries to take power to change her fate and protect her family.

The present storyline tackles the consequences of Orquídea’s life. Now an elderly matriarch who calls her (grand)children to her magical isolated home because she’s dying. Always secretive and had driven off her family members, her grandchildren Rey and Marimar are reluctant to go back. But they also hope for some answers for the bad luck and magic that always surrounded them. Why she always was afraid. What exactly happened in her past.

I can’t reveal more since I don’t want to spoil anything but it has glittering prose-I can see the magic and glamour of the circus that is mentioned as well as the natural world. It was gripping too and kept me turning pages too. No boredom or skimming pages here as Cordove explored generational trauma, family, and the slippery grasp of love, helplessness and (self) power. 4 stars ️ 

If I had to make a comparison to something else it reminded me a bit of Disney’s Encanto what with the secretive matriarch, generational story and magical house and powers. Only this is darker and probes deeper with character reflections and introspections.