{"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":"\u003cp\u003eNEW 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\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe “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\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Fascinating . . . an engrossing journey [full] of theft, hatred, greed, jealousy, madness, and backstabbing.”— Los Angeles Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMeet 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn  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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA modern classic of personal journalism,  The Orchid Thief  is a wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ANT","offers":[{"title":"Ebook","offer_id":53058665218335,"sku":"A9196","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0957\/0546\/5119\/files\/71cC9OFJCfL._SX1500.jpg?v=1792837465","url":"https:\/\/lumobook.store\/products\/the-orchid-thief-a-true-story-of-beauty-and-obsession-ballantine-readers-circle","provider":"LumoBook","version":"1.0","type":"link"}