Lockdown Newsletter 9: Book Club reviews and recommendations

Our latest book for discussion was The Botanist's Daughter by Katie Nunn

"This story takes place over two time periods, late Victorian and modern day. It encompasses three countries, Britain, Chile and Australia, two heroines, a villain and lots of plants. If that’s not got your head spinning, this pleasant, undemanding, page- turning epic will fill a few lockdown hours very adequately.

A hidden box, containing a diary and an album, starts the action and leads us into family secrets, journeys into the unknown and parallel lives. One leading lady begins life anew; the other leaves it. The world of seed and plant collectors, and the ruthless competition to discover new specimens, takes us to Sydney’s Botanical Garden, Kew Gardens, Cornwall and the foothills of the Andes.

We found the story well told and researched, but too ‘Mills and Boon’. Characters were predictable and cliched, some dropped with little ceremony, leaving a hole in the plot. Others circled the globe effortlessly, to fit in with rather contrived coincidences.

Read it to fulfil your inner Monty Don or Alan Titchmarsh, or to compensate for our current ‘essential travel only‘ regime!"

Our previous book for October's book club was The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. 

Here's what they thought about it:

"We know that cemeteries are full of bodies, or their remains, but who would have thought the graveyard above the retirement complex at the centre of this book would be quite so busy? A tiger-shaped tin, an old grave with a more recent addition, and the resting place of a young woman prematurely deceased, are all powerful reasons why nothing must be disturbed at any cost, despite building plans in the offing.

Meanwhile, two murders occur on subsequent days, alerting a small group of would- be amateur sleuths who meet every week in the Jigsaw Room of their retirement home. They are led by the indomitable Elizabeth, who has a shady past and razor-sharp detection skills. An ex-spy, a former nurse, a retired psychologist and Ron, who likes a drink, but won’t use his walking stick, all seem an unlikely quartet. Against all the odds, they stay ahead of the official investigation, dredging up dark secrets from the past and eventually getting their man (or one of them!).

We thought the characters a tad one -dimensional, but still engaging. The story is told with gentle humour, plenty of red herrings and affectionate mockery of the elderly. We all enjoyed it and expect a film version shortly! Osman will be busy, as Book 2 is about to follow this debut novel, while a film script on the horizon might distract him from ‘Pointless’- Watch this space!"

Other recommendations:

Miss Bensons Beetle - Joyce
I Wanna Be Yours – John Cooper Clarke
Gentleman in Moscow – Amor Towles
A Thousand Moons – Sebastian Barry
Educated – Tara Westover
The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty – Sebastian Barry
The Silence of The Girls – Pat Barker
The Dutch House – Ann Patchett
Born a Crime – Trevor Noah
Where the Crawdads sing – Delia Owens
The Muse - Jessie Burton