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Miss Benson's Beetle: An uplifting story of female friendship against the odds

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Driving on the island was a trip…over dirt roads bouncing through holes…steering hard to avoid falling trees, or goats. 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? And if you find a friend along the way, even in the most unlikeliest of places, it’s a precious thing to be held close to your heart.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, Miss Benson’s Beetle is a quirky and poignant story about two women - one middle aged and frumpy, the other beautiful and uneducated - who go on an unlikely quest to locate a mythical beetle that may or may not exist. It’s such a vividly-drawn portrait of unique characters and the friendship that blooms from their adventure that it’s hard not to hope someone turns it into a movie or limited series one day (as reviewer MarilynW previously noted!). In 1914 London, when Margery is ten years old, she loses her father, four brothers, and her home, all at the same time. Margery and her mother go to live with her extremely religious, pessimistic, spinster aunts. Margery's mother and aunts never speak of what happened in the past, with Margery's mother spending all her time sitting in a chair. Margery is obsessed with beetles and researches and studies them seriously until her late twenties, when she has another great loss in her life. Thus starts a twenty year lonely, drudgery as a school teacher where she is bullied and made fun of, by students and teachers alike, just as she was treated in her younger days. Margery is tall, large boned and heavy and invisible except when people decide to make fun of her looks. Finally, after more abuse by her students, Margery marches out of the school where she taught, a pair of purloined boots under her arm, and realizes she is now free to travel to New Caledonia, to search for the golden beetle, the obsession of her younger days. Vivid descriptions. I don’t have a high tolerance for chunky descriptions, but here, I ate it all up. I guess that’s because they weren’t really chunks; you put action and dialogue between the descriptions in just the right doses. 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!

About Fictionophile

In 1950, Margery Benson abandons her dead-end teaching job and advertises for an assistant to accompany her on an expedition. She is going to travel to an island on the other side of the world to search for an elusive beetle that may or may not exist. While the journey of self-discovery may be predictable, Miss Benson’s Beetle is a joy of a novel, with real insight into the lives of women, the value of friendship and the lasting effects of war. “There was always darkness,” realises Margery, “and in this darkness was unspeakable suffering, and yet there were also the daily things – there was even the search for a gold beetle – and while they could not cancel the appalling horror, they were as real.” The premise may not sound the most compelling, but it didn’t take long for Enid in her frothy pink and her pom-pom sandals and Margery in her boots and pith helmet to worm their way into my heart. I loved seeing them discover their worth and take charge of their lives in an era when gender roles were strictly confined. Miss Benson's Beetle is a pure joyride. Sweet, witty, poignant, filled with intrigue and unlikely friendship, it's a perfect escape. I loved it." - Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours and The Book of Lost Friends This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Dial Press/Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley.

Years later at age 46, having weathered personal losses and suffered humiliation at the hands of her students, Miss Benson quit her job as a domestic science teacher and decided to leave London in search of the Golden Beetle of New Caldedonia. The year is 1950. No one knows if such a beetle exists. All Margery had is a vague notion it may be found in a red mountain where the white orchids grow in a far-flung wilderness at the other end of the world. Nature lover that I am, I trudged along with nary a suspicion that it would turn out to be one of the wildest vicarious globe-trotting experiences. It is 1950. In a devastating moment of clarity, Margery Benson abandons her dead-end job and advertises for an assistant to accompany her on an expedition. She is going to travel to the other side of the world to search for a beetle that may or may not exist. The Piano Tuner” by Chiang-Sheng Kuo – Book Review #NovNov23 @skyhorsepub @arcadepub #ThePianoTuner#BookReview November 28, 2023 Enid and Margery take a cruise on their way to New Caledonia. On the cruise, Enid has a miscarriage. Margery has a fear of blood and faints in the hallway. Mr Mundic, who followed them onto the cruise, brings her to the infirmary. Q: Many of your central characters are idiosyncratic outsiders, ordinary people who make for very unlikely heroes. Why do you choose to make such characters your protagonists?

If there is one thing that Rachel Joyce excels at, it is her wonderful characterization. Once again we enter a world with characters so real, so very human, that your empathy goes into overdrive. Secrets On The Estate” by Mel Sherratt – Book Review @writermels #SecretsOnTheEstate #EstateSeries #BookReview#NovNov23 November 28, 2023

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