{"product_id":"the-orchid-thief-a-true-story-of-beauty-and-obsession-ballantine-readers-circle","title":"The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession (Ballantine Reader's Circle)","description":"NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • THE BASIS FOR THE FILM ADAPTATION DIRECTED BY SPIKE JONZE AND STARRING NICOLAS CAGE AND MERYL STREEP\n\nThe “eccentric, illuminating, [and] hilarious” (New York Daily News) true story of beauty and obsession in the swamps of Florida and the impassioned individuals who risk everything for the ultimate prize: a rare ghost orchid\n\n“Fascinating . . . an engrossing journey [full] of theft, hatred, greed, jealousy, madness, and backstabbing.”—Los Angeles Times\n\nMeet John Laroche, a deeply eccentric and oddly attractive renegade plant dealer. In 1994, Laroche and three Seminole men were arrested with rare ghost orchids—Polyrrhiza lindenii—they had stolen from a wild swamp in South Florida. Laroche had planned to clone the endangered orchids and sell them for a small fortune to impassioned buyers.\n\nIn The Orchid Thief, acclaimed journalist Susan Orlean follows Laroche through swamps and into the eccentric world of Florida’s orchid collectors, a subculture of aristocrats, fanatics, and smugglers whose obsession with plants is all-consuming. This unforgettable tour of America’s strange flower-selling subculture becomes even more bizarre as Orlean details how the head of a famous Seminole chief came to be displayed in the front window of a local pharmacy, how seven hundred iguanas were smuggled into Florida, and the case of the only known extraterrestrial plant crime.\n\nA modern classic of personal journalism, The Orchid Thief is a wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession.\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 044900371X\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: PKV.044900371X.G\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Orlean, Susan\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: A well-loved companion. Corners and cover might show a little wear, and you could find some notes or highlights. The dust jacket might be MIA, it might have been a library book and extras aren't guaranteed—but the story's all there!  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Aspen Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52611710288159,"sku":"PKV.044900371X.G","price":3.52,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0894\/0470\/3007\/files\/044900371X-0.jpg?v=1781197557","url":"https:\/\/www.aspenbookco.com\/products\/the-orchid-thief-a-true-story-of-beauty-and-obsession-ballantine-readers-circle","provider":"Aspen Book Company","version":"1.0","type":"link"}