Empress Orchid

By: Anchee Min

Narrated by: Alexandra O'Karma

It is the final days of the Chinese Empire when Orchid, a beautiful seventeen-year-old from an aristocratic, but impoverished family, finds herself unexpectedly chosen to become a lower-ranking concubine of the Emperor. Inside the Forbidden City jealousies and foul play abound, but Orchid is determined to survive. Little does she know that China will collapse around her, and she will be its last Empress...

©2004 Anchee Min

Critic reviews

"Powerful and brilliantly conceived....[An] insightful, magnetic, and quietly revolutionary resurrection of a remarkable woman." (Booklist)

Such a good story

Whoever edited this though needs to take the mouth sounds of the narrator, swallow and obviously drinking water.

Historical fiction china

Loved it. Had lots of interesting information and a plot that kept you wanting to listen! Great listen - or read!

intruiging and broad

I am not normally interested in things Royal or excessively interested in things Asian, but this was a good book. It covers a rather long portion of time, in which age happens to characters and they act not always as proscribed. I like the strength of the title character, who is drawn with the lightest brush strokes and in an understated manner. A real welcome from female characters who are strong and in your face. The narrator speaks very slowly and in hushed tones, mimicking the role of women in traditional Chinese society.

The audio version does not sync with written versi

I love the book and will continue to read this in Kindle version. But bought both the Kindle version and the Audible version to do through “whisper-sync”. But they do not sync up. The narrated version would not download in Kindle. And the chapter headings don’t match up. So you can’t in fact go back and forth between reading and listening. Drove me crazy and wasted tons of time trying to find where you left off.

The narrator was only “decent”. I didn’t mind the saliva and throat sounds as much as others, and yes she was on the bland side, but it wasn’t that bad.

Great book. But either read it or listen to it, don’t try to go back and forth.....

Liked the book, but not the narration!

I liked this book, but I cannot recommend this audio version. Each swallow and mouth sound the narrator made, which happened very often, was a huge distraction and very irritating to me. If this was not the book of the month for my book club, I would have abandoned it early on.