The Fair Botanists: Could one rare plant hold the key to a thousand riches?

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There is some really interesting biology throughout the story, both in terms of the plants depicted, and their properties.

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So when I created the character of Belle Brodie she was a high-class courtesan but she had the same fascination as I do for smell. Though her interest is in whether she can manipulate people’s behaviour through scent. And yes you can! This tied in with the Georgian fascination for potions – like magic. In fact in 1824 in Edinburgh there was a real-life case of two shop boys who mixed a ‘love potion’ and gave it to a girl. It’s not an uncommon story though looking at that case, it seems more like a ‘rhohypnol’ episode than the grand plan that Belle undertakes. I absolutely loved The Fair Botanists. Set in 19th century Edinburgh when the New Town is being built, the city is preparing for a Royal visit from King George IV, and botanists are getting excited about the imminent flowering of the Agave Americana. This plant is known as the century plant and flowers only once every few decades. It's much sought after by many for varied reasons and many of the characters in this book have reason to want to get a hold of its valuable flowers and seeds. I love when you smell, touch and clearly see in your inward eye – quoting one of my favourite Romantic poets, Wordsworth - what the words narrate and describe. Well, it practically means I love when a story is very well written. I appreciate even more when I can recognize research, accuracy and respect behind the good story-telling. You find all that in The Fair Botanists. In short, if you found this review to be over-long and dragged-out, then you will find The Fair Botanists to be just as bad. Despite the ceaseless descriptions of everything and everyone and the abundant amount of research that’s gone into it, The Fair Botanists is ultimately a dull, uninteresting read with neither substance, charm, nor intrigue. Reading this book feels like trying to eat tissue paper – bland, pointless, and ultimately forgettable. And those she created are, for the most part, just wonderful. The omniscient narrator, who dips in and out of the minds of many characters – reminiscent of narrators from novels of the Regency era – means that we get to know many characters from the inside out. Elizabeth is a compelling lead, and Belle is a riot, from start to finish. Johann is a dashing hero, easily the equal of any Jane Austen hero and I’d even say surpassing some of them with his gentle, kind ways. If you come to The Fair Botanists for the history, or for the names that you recognise, you should be aware that you will come away having fallen completely in love with Elizabeth, Belle and Johann.They are both very different, but great feminist characters. They've both faced adversity in their lives, yet they are able to use their circumstances to the best of their ability, and to overcome the difficult situations they've found themselves in. Elizabeth is my favourite character, we watch her slowly grow into her own newfound independence across the novel, no longer kept in the shadows by her husband. She attracts the attention of the king’s advisor and is soon able to imagine a world tinted by the soft glow of romance. My second favourite character is Mhairi MacDonald who works at the whiskey distillery and has increased its profits tenfold with her heightened sense of smell – to compensate for her blindness. Miss Brodie wonders if this special girl might be able to help her concoct her love potion and increase its potency.

The Fair Botanists by Sara Sheridan | Waterstones The Fair Botanists by Sara Sheridan | Waterstones

The plot was nonexistent. Well, not completely nonexistent I suppose, but the whole plot seemed to be about this centennial plant that was about to flower and everyone trying to barter for the limited amount of seeds it would produce when it did flower. That was all I could find that would constitute a plot in the third of the book I managed to read.

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Both Belle and Elizabeth have great character arcs, and their friendship helps them both develop as individuals. There are three very strong women in this story. Elizabeth, who is newly widowed (and somewhat relieved to be), who has come to Edinburgh to make a new life dependent upon a relative. Clementina is her dead husband's aunt, an outlandish (I love that word) woman who her nephew wishes to keep hidden away, outspoken and overtly political. And then there's Belle, a sex worker of noble birth who uses her profession to fund her ambition to make a love potion. Each become bound together by a rare agave that is about to flower for the first and only time in thirty years, in the newly-formed Botanic Gardens - at least the location is new. I really enjoyed the convergence of all of these storylines, and the ramifications of what happens to the flower. The pace was slow but deliciously told, the characters were really interesting and believable, I particularly enjoyed the Edinburgh setting which I could visualise so clearly. Some of the best botanical illustrators were women. You see this right through the Georgian era and into the Victorian era. There were quite a few around Edinburgh within those hundred years."