Seaton's Orchid is a powerful, provocative, and emotionally raw character portrait of a man haunted by a crime against nature, denied redemption, confronted by polite society, and forced to reconcile memories of a self he can no longer recognise. Set between WW1 and WW2, it tells the story of the enigmatic Captain Ainsley Seaton, a retired, much decorated professional soldier, amateur explorer, and artist living a reclusive life in Highleigh, a charming English village in West Sussex. When his past is unexpectedly resurrected over dinner by a shadowy Church diplomat, Seaton withdraws into characteristic seclusion. But the diplomat refuses to let matters lie and for his own secret purpose will stop at nothing to get to the truth, which reverberates through the village itself and beyond, with devastating results.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 396 pages
Publication date: 30 March 2022
Publisher: Chiselbury Publishing

Hardy Opens a Revealing Window into the ills of Empire and the Savagery that Mankind Can So Easily Revert to and Delivers a True Punch to the Gut, with Fascinating Echoes of His Writers Guild Screenplay for TABOO, the Sequel of Which Many of Us Are Still Eager to See, and the Mucky Jungle Epics of Joseph Conrad.

Maxim Jakubowski, Crimetime

A finely-paced and haunting story of a man - himself haunted and unsettled by the events of his past - coming to terms with the growing disorder of a world between the wars starting to fracture around him and already drawing towards its own unhappy conclusion. Part Joseph Conrad, part L.P. Hartley, Seaton's Orchid will appeal to fans of both.

Robert Edric, prizewinning author

SEATON'S ORCHID from Chips Hardy, co-creator with his son Tom Hardy of the acclaimed TV series Taboo, is a powerful, provocative and emotionally raw character portrait of a man haunted by a crime against nature, denied redemption, confronted by polite society, and forced to reconcile memories of a self he can no longer recognise. Set between WW1 and WW2, it tells the story of the enigmatic Captain Ainsley Seaton - a retired, much decorated professional solider, amateur explorer and artist living a reclusive life in Highleigh, a charming English village in West Sussex.

Seaton's quiet existence is shattered when his past is unexpectedly resurrected over dinner by a shadowy Church diplomat, who seems to know more about Seaton's history than he does. Forced to re-open chapters of his life that he has been at such pains to forget - from the phantasmal, savage events that unfolded in the deep jungle of the North-West Amazon to the horrors of the Western Front - Seaton withdraws into characteristic seclusion. But the diplomat refuses to let matters lie, and for his own secrecy.

Weight: 466g
Dimension: 129 x 197 x 31 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781908291615