Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

 

Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce has earned many positive reviews. However, this was not the book for me. It did not resonate with me at all, and I felt misled by the positive reviews that led me to request this book as an ARC. I was rather disappointed because I did so enjoy The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

Basically, this is the story of two women who were most unlikely to become friends…but they did. Margery Benson had a startling end to her happy childhood in England at age 10 when her father committed suicide after learning about the death of all four of his sons in World War I. Margery and her mother lose their home and are forced to move in with her fathers’ sisters.

Jump ahead to Margery’s life in her 40s. She’s never had a friend or a husband. She thought she had a romance once, but she was disappointed. She did have a dream of finding a gold beetle on the island of New Caledonia, but over the years that dream had faded until the day Margery just had more than enough and decided to cast everything aside as she figured out how to take this journey to search for the gold beetle on the other side of the world.

She needed an assistant for this expedition, and four candidates were considered. In the end, the least desired candidate, Enid Pretty, was the only one who wanted to go on this adventure. It is Enid who causes so many complications to the story starting with not having her passport for the voyage. Enid is a non-stop talker, while Margery has little to say. Margery early on figures she just needs to dump Enid and find a suitable assistant.  A series of events changes everything.

A third character, an unsuccessful candidate for the assistant, was a former POW who became obsessed with being Margery’s assistant even though he was unstable. The book would have been much stronger without the distraction of this character.

Rachel Joyce, the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, has written radio plays for BBC Radio 4. Prior to becoming a writer, she was a performer in theatre and television.