Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce
Fiction
Read it for: The unexpectedly plucky and resilient characters you’ll care deeply about, the swashbuckling adventure and deadpan humor, and the uplifting tale of female solidarity and friendship.
What it’s about: It’s 1950, and domestic science teacher Margery Benson has had enough of being underappreciated and made fun of, so she sets off on an expedition to find the mythical golden beetle of New Caledonia. She is an unlikely adventurer, a mid-forties spinster with no experience of the world. She is joined by an even less likely assistant (not her first choice), the loud and brassy blonde bombshell Enid Petty, who is hiding some secrets about her past. But Enid is surprisingly capable and kind when Margery falls very ill with seasickness, and they begin to develop a respectful friendship that may help them weather the many obstacles they face—language barriers, passport fraud, their inexperience with jungle conditions, and the obsessed man who is stealthily following them.
What critics say: “If you’ve been longing for a book about fully realized women helping one another grow through kindness and acceptance, this 'happy' book with a lot of depth is exactly what you need” (Bookreporter); “There are delightful flashes of humor in this novel... they fight, they bicker, they betray each other. Secrets and hurt from their past threaten to jeopardize their present. Joyce is excellent at depicting their pain and revealing their failings, and she has no qualms about repeatedly placing her characters in harm’s way“ (The Star Tribune).
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