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This story builds slowly, but has the same aura of charm that I found in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which I loved, a book that makes me smile just thinking about it. The unlikely friendship that develops between these two women, the bond they build after such inauspicious beginnings builds so naturally over time, one step at a time. With each step, their walls slowly crumble, and by the time this story nears the tenderly composed close, I knew this story, and these characters, will continue to live on in my heart. The richness of the story comes from the evolving relationship between Margery and Enid, two women who could arguably not be more different in life experience and outlook. As they endure hardships and conquer obstacles, they both learn more about themselves from each other, and learn to like the updated versions they find as they grow. And they become reliable friends to one another, an experience new to both. Personally, I came to love them both. This novel was a delight to read. Rachel Joyce creates such wonderful characters and Margery and Enid are both marvelously human and flawed. Totally unalike, they both experienced difficult upbringings, and are destined to become great friends after they share many adventures and hardships together. While Margery is naive and unaccustomed to dealing with people, she is organised and knowledgeable when it comes to beetles and Enid's street smarts is put to good use to plug any deficiencies in their plans. Over the months they spend together, they will both change, finding strengths they never knew they had. There is much humour in their relationship and exploits but also sadness and a wonderful ending. Highly recommended! There are quirky characters in this story that at times seemed far fetched. BUT - these are characters who touched my heart and had me rooting them all the way. Margery Benson suffered a traumatic experience as a ten year old and then in her twenties, a big disappointment. She leads a lonely, secluded life without friends and an unsatisfying career as a home economics teacher. A gold beetle in a place far from London that doesn’t exist until it’s found, according to her father, is what Margery Benson has been thinking about for years and wants to find. However, she must travel to New Caledonia, thousands of miles away to find it. She seeks an assistant and the unlikely candidate ends up being one she had not chosen. Enid Pretty has dreams of her own and a desire to escape the sad circumstances of her own life. This oddball pair embark on a journey to New Caledonia each chasing their dream, but end up with so much more. A third character, Mundic, a disturbed POW is inserted in the story. While he adds some drama and danger, I thought the story would have worked fine without him. Q: What was one challenging aspect of writing your debut novel. Something that you struggled with that became easier after the first novel?
I was a huge fan of author Rachel Joyce’s “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frey” as I love stories about disenchanted people, not living authentic lives, learning how to live, to find purpose. Plus, I love stories about curmudgeon sorts who find their warm interior. In Joyce’s current novel, “Miss Benson’s Beetle” she chooses a female protagonist who begins an unlikely journey of her own: to find a mythical gold beetle that hasn’t been documented. By the time she was eighteen, Margery’s room was like the study of the mad biologist. Insect books everywhere, drawings pinned to the wall, her notes and journals, not to mention all the homemade insect houses and jars”.However, the school incident was a tipping point and Margery decided to fulfil her dream of hunting for the golden beetle of New Caledonia. She placed ads in the paper for an assistant, and wound up with the most improbable candidate. One Enid Pretty, thin with bleached blonde hair, elaborate makeup, a pink business suit paired with sandals with pom poms, and a red valise she was very secretive about. This is a novel which will make you laugh aloud most of the time, yet once in a while you may shed a tear or two… Forty-six year old Margery Benson is the epitome of the word ‘spinster’. She is a dowdy, plain, tall and wide school teacher with no family or friends to speak of. I don’t think I had this much adventurous escape enjoyment other than in the beginning (first 10%), when I was in bed-‘feeling-lousy’- and tired of feeling weak….. I haven’t had this much adventurous fun since reading Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer-Prize novel, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay”. (and that was years ago).
I loved when the women went swimming- floating on their bellies- naked noodle skinny dipping — with the water gracefully holding them - nourishing them - as water can do. Secrets On The Estate” by Mel Sherratt – Book Review @writermels #SecretsOnTheEstate #EstateSeries #BookReview#NovNov23 November 28, 2023 Her father went to his desk. He sat there, nodding and smiling. She could tell he didn't have a proper reason for calling her: he just wanted her to be with him for a while. Since her four brothers had left for the war, he often called her. Or she'd find him loitering at the foot of the stairs, searching for something without seeming to know what it was. His eyes were the kindest in the world, and the bald top of his head gave him a naked look. The ending is sad but fitting. Margery loses something important to her but gains something precious she never knew she wanted. Delightful. Thank you #NetGalley @RandomHouse for a complimentary e ARC of #MissBensonsBeetle at my request. All opinions are my own.
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C: For me, it's definitely the red one. It just reminds me of Enid and how she fills Margery's world with colors DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Doubleday for providing a digital ARC of Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. This book takes place in post WWII Britain. Miss Benson is a large woman in her late forties with no sense of dress and is a bit of a loner. As the book begins she is teaching a class where a note is being passed around with a horrid caricature of her. This sends her over the edge to the point where she abruptly ends the class, swings by the teacher's lounge and steals another teacher's sturdy boots, then leaves the premises ignoring the protestations and threats of the teacher whose boots were stolen.
Marjory Benson led a sad and lonely life. She had no family life to speak of, did not get along with her co-workers and, until she was 47 years old, she never had a friend. She gave up her simple existence to pursue a golden beetle halfway across the world. The beauty of this book rests on the depth of Margery and Enid’s friendship, which I found immensely touching. The author said it well, ‘The truest friendships are those that allow us to step out of the confines of what we once were, and to realize instead what we might be.’ An emotional read for me, telling a story of a most unlikely friendship between two women who share nothing at the beginning and something most precious at the end of the novel. We jump ahead decades. Margery is in her early 40s now, plodding along in a life that she doesn’t like and never wanted. She is teaching home economics to a bunch of ungrateful students. Everyone has their breaking point and one day everything is just too much for Magery; the after-war bleakness of England, the gloomy rainy days, the continued rationing and the hurtful, ungrateful kids. She walks out of that life and soon into a new one. This wonderful novel is set to publish on November 24, 2020 and I can’t wait to share it with EVERYONE!Q: Both Miss Benson’s Beetle and Harold Fry gave me a sort of comfort and courage that it’s all right to start anew at any stage of life, to set out to find yourself, to go outside your comfort zone, and to make mistakes. Is that a theme you intentionally want your readers to take away from your books? Q: Did you ever imagine Harold Fry to receive the kind of success it did? How did that success and attention change things for you as a writer? How vital it is to learn what we have in the world before it is too late." - Be it a beetle or a friendship or something else - go and get it before it's gone. Q: Have you already started working on your next book? Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with your readers? When we hosted Rachel Joyce for an Ask Me Anything, curious readers wanted to learn everything from what her writing space looks like, to how she develops her characters, as well as the setting of this heartwarming, exotic odyssey: New Caledonia.
It was lovely to read the inspiration that led Rachel Joyce to write this engrossing story. I was amazed too at the amount of research that went into writing a story where a golden beetle held center stage. However, I’d heard so many positive things about Miss Benson’s Beetle that I decided to Rachel Joyce: I love it when I am alone to write. I love it when I can allow my head to go where it needs to go. But I often don't get that.. I find closing the door is probably the most efficient way of staying focussed! And music. I always listen to music. Sometimes the same thing, over and over again on a loop.
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The two embark on a major trip via train, boat, and sometimes mules on their expedition. The two women are contrasts in so many ways. The sheer magnitude of physicality on their journey up a mountain to find their specimen is an awesome undertaking. While Margery's dream is to find this golden beetle, Enid's dream is to become a mother after suffering many miscarriages. Through all their misadventures, and there are many, the two become devoted friends, save each other many times, and provide a lot of humour along the way. Parts of the book are laugh aloud funny, others make you reach for the tissues. I absolutely loved this book from its early scenes of Marjorie failing to control her classroom to its very satisfying conclusion years later. I would like to see this as a TV series but it would probably be too expensive to produce. There’s zaniness but also poignancy and heartbreak during this journey, one that will make you laugh one minute, and break your heart the next. The only misstep for me was the character with PTSD. I don’t think he added anything of value to the story.
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