MISS BENSON'S BEETLE by Rachael Joyce

 

Pure reading pleasure. What a delightful and surprising story that left me with a satisfying internal glow and feeling... happy. So happy, it was a magic read. And that cover - so lifelike with its shiny and glossy golden beetles. 

You may recall that Rachael Joyce wrote The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, an outstanding story of an elderly man walking from the south of England to the north to visit his friend Queenie. Such a journey of perseverance, determination and steady as she goes. This novel is in exactly the same vein - an unlikely heroine, Margery Benson,  undertaking the most extraordinary journey from England to New Caledonia of all places in the years after WWII. And why? Looking for a golden beetle that Margery first learnt about from her father when she was a little girl. This novel is every bit as good as, if not better than Harold - I loved Margery, her pluck, her single-mindedness, her self belief. 

When the story begins, Margery is a spinster school teacher, stuck at a girl's school, down trodden, teased mercilessly by those awful girls. Life has not been good to Margery, losing her father and brothers in the wars. One day at school, things go terribly awry and she quite literally, runs away.  But what to do now? That golden beetle of her childhood looms enticingly, and in a fateful decision her life takes a dramatic turn. Nothing is going to get in her way, but she can't do it all on her own! In a hilarious situations vacant process she ends up with Miss Enid Pretty as her assistant. Enid is the complete opposite of Margery, a most unlikely companion for such an intrepid journey, plus she has her own secretive past which adds juicily to the plot. Their journey to New Caledonia is fantastic, as is their journey into the highlands of the island to hunt out the elusive beetle. 

Along the way a number of other characters and situations threaten to upset everything, but Margery marches doggedly on, nothing getting in her way. She and Enid are outstanding characters - as the reader you are constantly encouraging them, egging them on - you go girls. They are both shining examples of what can be done when you put your mind onto something, and especially at a time when women had set roles in society. It is just a fabulous book, such a great story, I loved it. One of my favourites of 2020.