In the Language of Orchids

A pot shatters. An arrangement falls apart. A florist finds herself amidst the scattered leaves of history.

The Orchid Folios by Mok Zining is a novel-in-poems narrated by a florist in the depths of grief. Woven into her story is that of the Vanda Miss Joaquim, the orchid that has flourished in our imagination since it was first hybridised in 1893.

In the Language of Orchids is a poetic entry into the hybridity at the roots of our national identity.