This is the fourth book I’ve read by Rachel Joyce and other than being populated with quirky interesting characters, none of them are like the other, and forget about being predictable.  This is a book about women and for women that says, go get ‘em, you got this, and go for broke because that’s what Marge and Enid do, amidst rough beginnings, trepidations and risk taking.  What an unlikely pair!  Yet there were moments of laugh out loud humor that startled my husband as we were reading in the quiet of an evening.  You have to suspend belief at times to enjoy the wackiness which I was more than willing to go for the entertainment I received in return.  It was the perfect read for the quarantined days leading up to Christmas.

“Miss Benson’s Beetle” was such a fun read. Travel adventures, science, women helping each other. There is a little something for everyone in this one. I couldn’t put this book down!

**I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

I love how Rachel Joyce crafts these stories that are so unique and includes characters that are quirky but completely realistic and relatable.  Miss Benson's Beetle gives us not one but two strong female characters that truly transform over the course of this engaging novel.  

Margery Benson has lived a regimented stifled life, in my opinion, and needing a new direction for her life, on a whim, she decides to follow her childhood dreams and head to New Caldedonia in search of the golden beetle that her father dreamt of finding.  She interviews assistants, order supplies and makes travel plans for this expedition.  At the last minute, she has to hire a different assistant than she had planned, asking her to meet her at the dock, sight unseen.  When assistant Enid Pretty arrives, Margery is in for a surprise.  The two women embark on this life changing mission and their adventures make for quite a story.  

I truly enjoyed this novel and the beauty of the story. The story of Margery and Enid is a great narrative of the power of friendship, resilience and determination.  

I received this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

To be completely honest here, I was under the impression that the beetle in question was actually a VW, not, you know, a beetle! So there was a touch of cognitive dissonance when I got past the first chapter.

I did like this quite a bit, I thought the post-war description of Britain was very well done and I loved the contrast with the tropical island Miss Benson lands on. I also liked that although she had faults, and was not described as attractive at all, that had nothing to do with the story, it was just how Miss Benson was.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants a well-written novel to curl up with for an afternoon.

I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion

#MissBensonsBeetle #NetGalley

One of the best books I read this year!!  School teacher Margery Benson gets fed up with her meaningless existence and abruptly decides to go on an expedition to New Caledonia to look for a beetle she saw in a book as a child.  She interviews three people as companions and winds up hiring her last choice, Enid Pretty.  Enid has some secrets which follow them all along their journey.  Beautiful book about friendship and courage.  Highly recommend.

MISS BENSON'S BEETLE by Rachel Joyce (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry) is the top pick for the November 2020 Library Reads selections. I, too, am highly recommending this wonderful piece of writing filled with memorable, likeable characters. Fans of humorous but observant historical fiction like Dear Mrs. Bird or works by Helen Simonson are sure to enjoy this new title. In 1950, Miss Benson is teaching at an all girl's school in England and one day just chucks it all in to go off to the South Pacific and New Caledonia (map provided) to find the golden beetle that her Father told her about decades ago.  She interviews a few possible assistants for the expedition and ends up having to "make do" with Edith Pretty a total scatterbrain, but extremely loyal young woman. Over the course of their adventure (battling storms, ineffectual bureaucracy, unwanted attention and much more), the two develop a deep and lasting friendship. MISS BENSON'S BEETLE received a starred review from Library Journal ("a delightful book ... sure to be a hit with book clubs") and Publishers Weekly. Questions and topics for discussion are included in the print copy and I am looking forward to listening to the variety of accents on the audio version, too.

I am not sure what I expected when I started reading this book.  But while it was not what I thought it be, it was an entertaining read.  I found myself chuckling at Margery’s shenanigans and her experiences as she interviews for an assistant to travel with her on the expedition to New Caledonia.

This is an exploration into growth and change.  Both Margery and her assistant, Enid, are challenged by experiences in their past and yet find themselves changed as they make this journey of discovery.

Quirky characters, an exotic location, a developing relationship, and discovery makes for an interesting read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dial Press for my advanced review copy.  All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Take one middle-aged spinster with a small life and a big dream -- to find a legendary beetle in the South pacific. Add in one wild, talkative, but secretive young woman to be her assistant. It should be like oil and water, but somehow their travels & travails bring them to better understanding. It took me a while to get used to the story's separate strands, but the book was really enjoyable. I felt as if I really got to know the characters. I found the resolution of the book very satisfying.

Omg this was the cutest story I have read in such a long time!! I absolutely loved it! I highly recommend reading it.

Rachel Joyce is an eminently readable author I keep turning to even though I generally find her messages too simplistic and/or twee. I’ve read everything she’s published but doubt she’ll ever top The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. Miss Benson’s Beetle attracted me for being suitably different from the rest of her work: much of it takes place on the high seas or in New Caledonia rather than in England, and it is about two unlikely female adventurers who become dear friends as they chase their dreams in the early 1950s.

Margery Benson reminded me of Olive Kitteridge: a larger, older woman who doesn’t say or do what she’s expected to. Her lingering childhood fascination with a (possibly legendary) golden beetle spurs her to, in her mid-forties, leave her home ec teacher job in disgrace and plan an expedition to a French-run island halfway across the world. (I could imagine her being played by Miranda Hart in a television or film adaptation.) Enid Pretty, the twentysomething blonde bombshell who signs on as her field assistant at the last minute, is running from her past and desperate to have a baby.

The twin themes of the book are trauma and obsession, but it is a light-hearted read for all that. My main issue was that the subplots about a POW with PTSD and a murder investigation back in England draw attention away from the central story. Partly because of this, the novel felt interminable.

This is a book that will stay with me for a long time.  It is atmospheric, emotional, and so compelling.  I loved the quirky characters and the plot, and just everything about it.  I would love to see a movie version!
Many thanks to Random House Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This type of book makes me believe in adventure, friendships, and that life is 
Long and filled with every opportunity.

Was happy to highlight this title in Zoomer magazine’s Novel Encounters for November, my monthly look-ahead column of the forthcoming notable fiction books readers should look out for. (Full review and column at link)

I absolutely loved Miss Benson’s Beetle! It was warm, uplifting, emotional, sad, happy, everything you want in a book all rolled up into one.

We first meet Margery Benson when she is a young girl, looking at a book of her father’s - Incredible Creatures. She becomes fascinated with the creatures in the book, especially an elusive golden beetle.

We then meet Magery again in 1950, when she is an unmarried teacher, with not a lot of anything good happening in her life. She decides to quit it all and venture off in search of the golden beetle.

She advertises for an assistant and ends up with Enid Pretty, the exact opposite of her in everything from looks to personality. From her bleach blonde hair to her sandals with pom poms, she is not what you think of when you want a safari assistant.

But the two women set out on a great adventure. They form a friendship and a bond, built on shared hardships and humor. They find their greatest strengths together.

I really loved this charming book and I hope someone who makes movies would read it, because I think it would make such a good movie!

‘Miss Benson’s Beetle’ by Rachel Joyce is a charming and wonderful book about two women who find an unlikely, beautiful friendship. The main character, Margery, is a never-married, unhappy teacher in her 40s who decides to finally pursue her dream of becoming an entomologist and seek a gold beetle her father told her about as a girl, rumored to exist off the coast of Australia. Margery carefully plans her trip and seeks an assistant for her expedition to the other side of the world. She ultimately ends up with Enid, a quirky, brash woman in her twenties. Together, they embark on the adventure of a lifetime! 

‘Miss Benson’s Beetle’ is written in such an immersive, authentic, and entertaining way. This is a very quirky, silly story at times, but oh so enjoyable! Margery and Enid are nuanced, flawed characters that have suffered loss and disappointment, but they allow themselves to be vulnerable with each other and form a beautiful friendship. Although the story is character-driven, there is plenty of action! They encounter many difficulties and navigate them in sometimes questionable ways. I really loved this story of two women who pursue their own interests and independence and form an enduring bond.  

Thank you Random House Publishing Group / Dial Press Trade Paperback and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Random House for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed every single moment of Margery Benson and Enid Pretty's adventure to 1950's New Caledonia. The unlikely pairing of these two women kept me on the couch reading when I probably should have been doing housework. I am a big fan of Rachel Joyce, who I feel is the female counterpart of Fredrik Backman. Thank goodness that not all characters are long-legged twenty-somethings. A novel that examines female friendships and the lasting effects of two world wars on its characters. I crown it with a 5 star because I could not think of anything that I didn't like in the novel.





#MissBensonsBeetle #NetGalley

Publication Date 03/11/20
Goodreads Review Published 04/12/20

In London in 1950, Margery Benson is getting by as a middle-aged single teacher of domestic science. The war is over but the city is still reeling from its losses, and she is surviving, but just. She needs new shoes, for one thing. She’s alone: Her mother died when she was a young adult; her father died when she was a child; the aunts she and her mother moved in with years before have died, and even their housekeeper has passed on. Margery doesn’t enjoy her life particularly; one thing that made her happy was studying beetles, but she gave that up 20 years before. One day, however, an incident at her school leads her to snap, and she impulsively decides to go all the way around the world to New Caledonia to try to find a golden beetle that may or may not exist. She is going to discover it. She sells most of what she owns, aside from the apartment her aunts left her, and advertises for an assistant. She is looking for someone who speaks French and can be dependable help as she pursues her dream.

After the sensible assistant who applied backs out at the last minute, Margery ends up having to work with Enid Pretty, a 20-something woman who has bleach-blonde hair, wears lots of makeup, and sports the most ridiculous clothes possible for traveling and eventually exploring in the tropics. Enid drives Margery absolutely crazy for the weeks they are aboard an ocean liner and then as they have to change to other transportation in Australia, but her only other choice was a POW who was quite unsettling. So the unusual pair make their way to New Caledonia and then finally, finally, after many problems, to the tiny “bungalow” out in the middle of nowhere on the very end of the island where they will go up a mountain and hunt for the golden beetle.

Enid has some secrets, and Margery has a lifetime worth of grief and loss she bottles up. And slowly, slowly, the two women become friends, help each other to face the darkness from their respective pasts, and encourage each other to achieve their dreams.

This story pairs two very different characters and slowly brings them close together; it’s really only the last third of the book, I think, that I found to be particularly sweet. Both could be so frustrating that their time together leading up to that point was sometimes annoying, and I was definitely ready for them to start being friends. But the end was really lovely and poignant, and it made it worth going through those most frustrating bits. The book is so much about grief and loss, about finding one’s way in life; about friendship; about women’s lives and the limitations they have faced over the years. I’m glad I got to read it.

An awkward, middle-aged Miss Margery Benson goes on a adventure to find a mysterious beetle in the mountains of New Caledonia. Knowing she'll need an assistant to support her through the journey, she reluctantly hires the young, flamboyant Enid Pretty to travel with her. The whole journey is quite unbelievable, yet totally engrossing and delightfully quirky. Ultimately the story is one of friendship and acceptance. Thoroughly enjoyed this title.

There are quirky characters in this story that at times seemed far fetched. BUT - these are characters who touched my heart and had me rooting them all the way.  Margery Benson suffered a traumatic experience as a ten year old and then in her twenties, a big disappointment. She leads a lonely, secluded life without friends and an unsatisfying career as a home economics teacher. A gold beetle in a place far from London that doesn’t exist until it’s found, according to her father, is what Margery Benson has been thinking about for years and wants to find. However, she must travel to New Caledonia, thousands of miles away to find it. She seeks an assistant and the unlikely candidate ends up being one she had not chosen. Enid Pretty has dreams of her own and a desire to escape the sad circumstances of her own life. This oddball pair embark on a journey to New Caledonia each chasing their dream, but end up with so much more. A third character, Mundic, a disturbed POW is inserted in the story. While he adds some drama and danger, I thought the story would have worked fine without him.

There is so much they don’t know about each other, and as their secrets are slowly revealed and in spite of them, there is real acceptance and caring reflected in a true friendship that grows between these seemingly so very different women. There are moments bordering on the absurd, but these are tempered by moments realistically portraying grief, sadness, loneliness, the joy of self discovery and friendship. I laughed out loud at times and choked up at others. I can’t say that I loved it as much as [book:The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry|13227454] or [book:The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy|20890479].  However, in spite of my reservations about the likelihood of the story, it was a good escape as well as as a touching story.


I received a copy of this from Dial Press through NetGalley.

Three Stars

I chose this book because I once read a wonderful book called "Perfect" by Rachel Joyce, and now she's one of my favorite authors.  She's also a British author and I very much enjoy that locale in my books.

This book takes place in post WWII Britain.  Miss Benson is a large woman in her late forties with no sense of dress and is a bit of a loner.  As the book begins she is teaching a class where a note is being passed around with a horrid caricature of her.  This sends her over the edge to the point where she abruptly ends the class, swings by the teacher's lounge and steals another teacher's sturdy boots, then leaves the premises ignoring the protestations and threats of the teacher whose boots were stolen.  

A brief recounting of her upbringing recalls the horrible event where her father found out that all four of his sons were killed in combat.  He promptly went off into another room and shot himself.  Prior to this news, he had been showing Margery an illustrated book about insect specimens, and she locked in on the mythical golden beetle of New Caledonia.  Now Margery and her widowed mother were forced to stay with relatives in London where her mother spent the days wistfully staring out the window.  

Margery began regularly visiting a local museum's entomology section where an older married man encouraged her studies, and also a mutual flirtation.  Eventually this reached a crisis point where he confessed his marital state and Margery's romantic dreams were shattered.  Thus began Margery's acceptance of her lot in life as being a clunky, misunderstood, solitary and loveless existence.

However, the school incident was a tipping point and Margery decided to fulfil her dream of hunting for the golden beetle of New Caledonia.  She placed ads in the paper for an assistant, and wound up with the most improbable candidate.  One Enid Pretty, thin with bleached blonde hair, elaborate makeup, a pink business suit paired with sandals with pom poms, and a red valise she was very secretive about.  

The two embark on a major trip via train, boat, and sometimes mules on their expedition.  The two women are contrasts in so many ways.  The sheer magnitude of physicality on their journey up a mountain to find their specimen is an awesome undertaking.  While Margery's dream is to find this golden beetle, Enid's dream is to become a mother after suffering many miscarriages.

I did enjoy this book in a quiet way, as I appreciated the marrying of these two very different souls who grew to really care for each other.  I didn't have that "couldn't put it down" experience, though.  "Perfect" is still my most favorite book Rachel Joyce has written.