authors’ note

To write historical fiction requires the author to be as much historian as novelist. Which leaves the question, how much of any historical fiction is actual fact, and how much of it is fiction? As for The Orchid and the Emerald, we devoted enormous research to ensure historical accuracy, ranging from Bolívar’s South American revolution to early treatments for malaria (marsh fever) and to high society’s love of orchids. We trust the reader will indulge the occasional departure from historical fact in order for the writers to maintain a suspenseful story line.

Preface: The background material on orchids is accurate. J. H. Chesterton was an actual nineteenth-century adventurer and plant hunter who passed away in Colombia. The background information about Joseph Jussieu is factual. He did keep a diary and stored his large collection of scientific specimens in his trunks, which he took everywhere. He had a manservant who stole the trunks while Jussieu was away arranging to depart South America. His journey into the Sacred Land is fictitious. He did die in an insane asylum in France.

The Old World: The dialogue throughout the book is imaginary. The Battle of Waterloo, in which William was an aid to the supreme commander—Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington—is recognized as a decisive moment in world history, a turning point which ended a series of European wars and ushered in a relatively long period of peace. The historical sixth Duke of Devonshire was an interesting and powerful aristocrat much devoted to horticulture; his role as spymaster and his portrayal as a cold, masterful manipulator is fantasy on our part. The description of the orchid house is factual. Although the brig Voyager and her crew are fictional, the ship is based upon the schooner Pickle that saw duty at the Battle of Trafalgar and was the first ship to bring word of the battle to England. Information about New England’s support of the slave trade is accurate.

South America 1819: Bolívar’s crossing of the Andes is accurately portrayed and the Battle of Boyacá is true to the actual timeline, terrain, troop movements, and commanders involved. The geography and political situation in South America are accurately presented. The weapons described were in use during that time. When orchids are mentioned—except for the black orchid—the locations ascribed to the particular species are accurate. The indigenous tribes cited existed in the locales mentioned during that period. The Dutch East India Company was dissolved in 1799, but there was an attempted revival two decades later—during the period of our story. Numerous British volunteers fought with Bolívar, and the famous Albion Brigade is factual.

The Wilderness: The information about emeralds and the Muzo mines is accurate, and information regarding the Devonshire emerald is correct. It is the world’s largest and most famous uncut emerald, weighing 1,384 carats. The fight with the jaguars presents factual information about South America’s apex predator. In the Valley of the Lepers, William and Nate are overcome with toxic fumes emanating from a volcanic seep. This harkens back to the ancient Oracle of Delphi. Gas seeping out of the fissures in the cave where the famous mystic sat, caused her to have visions. Archaeologists who inspected the geology of the area found two fault lines converging just under the temple through which the “vapors” the Oracle breathed most likely seeped. The dissolving limestone along those fault lines gave off ethane, methane, and ethylene—all gases which render the sniffer euphoric and can cause hallucinations.

The Amazon: The information about the Amazon is factually presented. Recent discoveries about pre-Columbian Amazonian civilizations reveal that a significant number of the trees in the Amazon belong to domesticated species, including the Brazil nut, the Amazon grape tree, and the ice cream bean tree. These immense groves bear striking resemblance to plantations, both in their size and proximity to known human settlements, and would have been necessary to support a pre-Columbian civilization. In addition, “black soil of the Indian” is a type of very dark, fertile man-made soil of special composition found fairly recently in the Amazon basin, of unknown origin, resulting in extreme soil improvement lasting centuries, allowing cultivation in the thin, sterile rain forest topsoil. This new evidence reveals advanced and complex societies and a network of roads that stretched far beyond the known boundaries of the Inca Empire. Many contend there were Amazons present even at the court of the Olmecs who prospered in ancient Mexico from 1200 BC to 400 BC and would account for the pyramids, rubber, obsidian, jade, and other advanced artifacts found in the Amazon. In fact, in the 1990s a long-lost section of the Inca road system was discovered running from Machu Picchu in Peru directly to the Amazon.

Brazil: The queen’s bodyguard, Julia, is fictional: There is no evidence of such a bodyguard or that she ever visited Gran Colombia or personally knew Bolívar. In addition, King John VI and Queen Carlota were accompanied back to Lisbon by their son Miquel, but we have omitted this information for the purposes of brevity. (Miquel only made a nuisance of himself anyway!) John’s main purpose in returning to Portugal was to endorse the constitution. He may have been interested in the banning of slavery throughout Europe, but the road to emancipation for slaves in Brazil was a long one; it wasn’t until the reign of Dom Pedro II, John’s grandson, that slavery was finally abolished. The Devonshire emerald resides with the Devonshire estate to this day, from time to time on loan to the Natural History Museum of London. Perhaps coincidentally, or perhaps not, the British navy would opportunely appear on those occasions when King John most required support.

Stay tuned for Book Two, in which William and Nate’s mission to South America unravels, resulting in a pursuit to the Far East threatening to upset the fragile peace and send the world’s great powers spiraling into chaos.