Highly recommended to those who enjoy eccentric characters learning to like themselves, and their world, just a little bit better. Well-rendered, literary, humourous, uplit. Margery acquires an unlikely assistant, Enid Pretty – all yellow hair and inappropriate footwear – and together they survive comic adventures on boats and through customs and at the British consul’s garden party, finding new reserves of “gumption” as they do. Each has a sad past, and neither discusses it, but in a series of tender moments they realise that each makes the other braver and better than she thought she could be. As ever, Rachel Joyce made me laugh out loud, then weep for the battered majesty of ordinary human beings. Two unlikely heroines, their strange love, a pitiful villain, and a life-affirming search for miraculous beauty...all combine in a wild, hopeful picaresque journey into the soul." - Daily Mail (UK) I absolutely loved this book from its early scenes of Marjorie failing to control her classroom to its very satisfying conclusion years later. I would like to see this as a TV series but it would probably be too expensive to produce. Rachel Joyce: I always find the characters first. I write whatever comes into my end. It's like getting to know them - so I feel I just have to watch them carefully and listen to what they say.. most of that doesn't make it into the book. It's just about finding out who they are and where they come from. Margery was probably where I started, but then Enid came along - and I saw they were inextricably linked. It got to the point where I felt I knew what they would say about ANYTHING!

WOMAN & HOME BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2020; DAILY MAIL BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2020; BOOKMARK BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020; GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2020 If there is one thing that Rachel Joyce excels at, it is her wonderful characterization. Once again we enter a world with characters so real, so very human, that your empathy goes into overdrive. 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. Both women (and Mr. Mundic) have been influenced and informed by past traumas, and though their friendship feels inevitable, the journey there is an absolute riot.There were short bits of time where I was a little bogged down, but I’m such an emotional reader, I can give this no less than five stars because of how much I came to love Enid and Margery, how much I rooted for them, and also, the ending. I think the author gifted us with an ending that left a mark and brought great closure. Although the male character in the story adds suspense and tension, I feel like he was almost unnecessary and that focusing on friendship and the quest would have been enough. It added a darkness to the story which I wasn’t expecting. Many characters carry with them the damage of conflict – from Margery, who lost her father and brothers because of the first world war, to her bizarre stalker Mr Mundic, a traumatised former PoW, to the delightfully mean character Mrs Pope, the consul’s wife, who resents our two heroines because “they had found a way to be themselves”. She has decided now is the time to go on the quest for the golden beetle if she’s ever going to do it. She interviews for an assistant as she will need help with the work and needs someone who speaks French. Who she ultimately ends up with is far from what she had in mind! In 1914, when Margery Benson was 10 years old, her father showed her a book of magical creatures, none more fantastic than the golden beetle of New Caledonia. Thirty-six years later, jobless and alone, she’s determined to have the adventure of her life and find that beetle.

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. Vivid descriptions. I don’t have a high tolerance for chunky descriptions, but here, I ate it all up. I guess that’s because they weren’t really chunks; you put action and dialogue between the descriptions in just the right doses. Q: What was one challenging aspect of writing your debut novel. Something that you struggled with that became easier after the first novel?

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This beautifully and flawlessly written story is one of the most enjoyable and heart-warming stories I have ever read. Margery speaks no French and advertised for a French-speaking assistant to accompany her on this trip. She rejected Mr. Mundic, a prisoner-of-war from Burma (likely suffering from PTSD) who felt spurned and began to stalk her. The assistant she ends up hiring not by choice is Enid Pretty, a floozy 26-year-old woman with yellow hair who talks non-stop and thinks she can travel without a passport. Poor Margery. And yet, this is where the fun begins. It also marks the beginning of an unlikely and solid friendship between two women who cannot be more diametrically different from each other.

Defying all the odds, they embark on their madcap journey and endure many hardships and dangers along the way. Their adventure is zany enough to require the reader to suspend some disbelief, which is not easy for me, but in this case the characters won me over. However, it’s not all fun and games, as there are some darker elements at play. The year is 1950, and although World War II is over, London and many other major cities are still rationing goods and materials and rebuilding their shattered communities. Husbands, sons and brothers have died, and the women of the world are starting to come into their own, having taken up major roles in both war efforts and homes. One of these ladies is Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and devout spinster who was raised by her mother and religious aunts after her father died by suicide upon receiving the news that his sons had been killed at war. Now in her late 40s, Miss Benson is still ambling by, living in her deceased aunt’s cold, austere flat, surviving on scraps and teaching home economics to young women. The characterizations are creative, entertaining, and diverse. It begins with the two main characters, who are markedly different, and continues with each chapter as new and interesting characters are introduced.

Q: Both Miss Benson’s Beetle and Harold Fry gave me a sort of comfort and courage that it’s all right to start anew at any stage of life, to set out to find yourself, to go outside your comfort zone, and to make mistakes. Is that a theme you intentionally want your readers to take away from your books?

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. Rachel has also written over twenty original afternoon plays and adaptations of the classics for BBC Radio 4, including all the Bronte novels. She moved to writing after a long career as an actor, performing leading roles for the RSC, the National Theatre and Cheek by Jowl. I’ve loved Miss Joyce’s previous books and this one is no exception. To paraphrase my review of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: We all have baggage and lose our way at times, but it’s never too late to change and we need to both give and accept help along the way. Forty-six year old Margery Benson is the epitome of the word ‘spinster’. She is a dowdy, plain, tall and wide school teacher with no family or friends to speak of. They made a ridiculous pair, as they chased the porter, like a brown ostrich coupled with a pink-hatted canary”.Q: What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing? What would be your own advice for new writers?