I have enjoyed all of Rachel Joyce’s books, but I am NOT sure how I feel about this one. Margery is a sad and quirky character, a woman in her 40’s, alone and living a life of loss and disappointment. When she decides to make a trip to find the elusive gold beetle, Enid enters the story after she applies as her assistant. A very strange and long journey commences, with Enid’s felonious moves enabling the pair to move forward. I did not understand the necessity of the POW character, Mundic, and it could have been an even better story with focus completely on the two women and their burgeoning friendship. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The story was a satisfying read but the middle did drag a bit. However, the unique and quirky personalities of the characters, Margery and Enid, kept me reading and finishing this adventure story with a heart-warming smile as I finished the last page.

While I’ve loved all of Rachel Joyce’s books, this one was even more heartwarming and heartbreaking than the others. When Margery steps WAY out of her rigid comfort zone to travel across the world in search of a rare golden beetle, she has no idea what this will entail or how hard it will be. She’s joined by Enid Pretty, a person Margery judges and considers to be unqualified and unwanted on the expedition. The journey these women take and the friendship they form changes their lives forever.

4.5 Stars

This story begins, briefly, with a day in Margery’s life that will impact her view on life from that day on, and since she is only ten years old at that time, in 1914, it will have a fairly significant impact on her view of life, and her ability to trust in others throughout her life. Her father calls her aside to show her a book called Incredible Creatures, sharing some of the curiosities inside. A man with a tail where his legs should be, a squirrel with wings. Creatures who might exist, some which others had sworn to have seen, but without proof? Well, how would one know without seeing it for oneself? And then he shows her a beetle on another page, and shares the different parts of a beetle, how many different beetles there were across the planet, and how some may appear to be, well, unadorned and simple, if you looked closer, it was gold. All over. Magnified, it was even more magnificent. The golden beetle of New Caledonia. And on that day, she made it her mission that one day she would go to New Caledonia, find this beetle, and share it with the world.

Years pass, the Second World War was over, and while she hasn’t forgotten this day, her life seems to follow a path she never fully seemed to have considered. She teaches a classroom of children, students who mockingly mimic and ridicule her, not even bothering to hide how little they care how much it hurts or offends her. And then one day, it is all too much. Everything was scarce, food was rationed, her clothes – everyone’s clothes – and shoes, everything seemed to all be in tatters, and to add insult to how fragile life seemed, spending another minute with these ingrates were too much to bear. She goes on a bit of a tirade, and when all is said and done, she decides that she must leave this place and go in search of the golden beetle of New Caledonia.

Searching for an assistant to accompany her, she places an ad in the newspaper for a French-speaking assistant for this mission, conducts interviews, and ends up with a completely difference assistant from the one she had chosen.

These two characters, Margery and Enid Pretty, from all appearances, make an unlikely pair. Margery in her stodgier styles of dress is also not what one would call a “people person,” whereas Enid is the opposite, a flashier style of dress, hair and makeup, who seems to thrive on being the center of attention. And although the ad specifically was for a French-speaking assistant, it is not a language that Enid is remotely familiar with, which adds to Margery’s dilemma and Enid’s persistence to prove her worth. The seemingly stacked-against-all-odds reasons why these two will never get along crumble a little at a time, over time. The frustrations, which Margery seems to feel at every turn with Enid, slowly – very slowly – begin to dissolve. At the same time, Enid begins to show a resolve to prove her worth.

This story builds slowly, but has the same aura of charm that I found in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which I loved, a book that makes me smile just thinking about it. The unlikely friendship that develops between these two women, the bond they build after such inauspicious beginnings builds so naturally over time, one step at a time. With each step, their walls slowly crumble, and by the time this story nears the tenderly composed close, I knew this story, and these characters, will continue to live on in my heart.


Pub Date: 24 Nov 2020

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Random House Publishing Group / Random House / The Dial Press

#MissBensonsBeetle #NetGalley

I tried and tried to finish this one. I loved Harold Fry but just could not get all the way through this one.

This book was a fun read and I really enjoyed the quirky characters. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

How often (perhaps during a wee bit of stressful mid-life LIFE STUFF😬) have you been tempted to throw your hands in the air, rail at the unfairness of it all, and knock over a few chairs (or people😳) who had the audacity to get in your way? Then when you've reclaimed your decorum, ditched your stuffy British middle school home science teaching position, packed your bags and sailed away on a slow ship followed by a treacherous seaplane flight to the exotic island of New Caldonia?? Yes! THAT New Caldonia in the far, far, far...far, far, far, far southwest Pacific Ocean! To find the elusive, legendary, and potentially wholely mythological...GOLDEN BEETLE!! 🐞(Hey! I know my emoji is a ladybug, but I TOLD you the aforementioned beetle is elusive...and potentially camera shy...and possibly an entomological Bigfoot! This was the best I could do on short notice! 😌)

Wait. What??

Well, in case you'd like to take a trial run on this approach to life's difficulties and disappointments, I strongly suggest that you read Rachel Joyce's newest novel " Miss Benson's Beetle!" It will do a couple of thing beyond letting you have a front row seat while Miss Margery Benson's very, very ordinary and structured life takes a proverbial nosedive! It will make you laugh...right out loud! It will make you giggle often and perhaps elicit a gusty belly laugh or two! It will make you think "Oh no! She is NOT going to do/say/try/think THAT?!" Followed immediately by "Crikey! She most certainly IS going to do/say/try/think that!!" 🤣

And it will affirm (or reaffirm for those of us "Doubting Debbies") the notion that you are NEVER too old, too tired, too set in your ways, or plain old ill-prepared for a new beginning! Margery Benson...you're my hero!

Many, many thanks to NetGalley and the marvelous Rachel Joyce for the advanced digital copy of this wonderfully engaging book!

#NetGalley
#MissBensons'sBeetle

In the post-WWII 1950 in London, "spinster" Margery Benson is barely eeking out a living as a schoolteacher. She reaches her breaking point one day upon discovering she is the school joke--and decides to make a drastic change. She will travel to New Caledonia to search for the golden beetle, whose questionable existence had been a youthful obsession of hers.

This was just a wonderful book--humorous at times, raw and painful at times, both crazy but somehow believable. Great characters and great writing. I loved it!

In her welcoming remarks, Rachel Joyce's managing editor says that this book arrived on her desk at a particularly sensitive time, and it was just the antidote for her. I can't help but agree. In these days of incarceration when travel is out of the question, the story of two very different women making their way from dreary post-WWII London to New Caledonia in search of an almost mythic beetle provides the best kind of escape. As in the other books by Joyce that I've read, the central character sets out onto a quest, naively totally unprepared. You can't help but root for Margery and her "assistant" Enid, as their backstories evolve. Highly recommended.

I think this book is intended to be heartwarming, the kind of book people love because it has quirky characters who have seemingly overcome impossible conditions and survived if not triumphed nonetheless. But I found it an enormously sad book, peopled with individuals whose decisions, not always based on reason, led them into misery. The author's use of trauma as a plot device isn't uncommon, but I don't think it's handled well here, especially in regard to the PTSD suffered by a minor character whose role, quite honestly, does nothing to serve the book and could be removed. While the characters' adventures and development was good , I never found their ultimate relationship of close friends convincing, at least not on the part of the Miss Benson of the title, and I found the conclusion of Enid's story to be a convenient cop-out along the lines of "and then I woke up!"

This was a most enjoyable book and hard to put down. The characters are quirky and the story line, sad, poignant and funny. Margery and Enid were so very different---both troubled and trying to get along in a difficult world. What they found was a friendship which made them strong and independent women.
Not sure what the "stalker" brought to the story.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing an e copy of this book for my review. I loved this book. With every page I was torn between not wanting the book to end and wondering how it would end. The characters are endearing. The tragedies of their youths mold the women they become and in the course of the story they strengthen, grow and change. Most of the novel is set in 1950 in New Caledonia as Margery Benson and her unlikely and seemingly total miscast sidekick search for a never before seen golden beetle. This is not just an adventure book but is both funny and incredibly sad and reminiscent of Rachel Joyce's novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I was so often moved by the women's stories and determination to live life on their terms. This is one of the very best books I’ve read this year and heartily recommend it.

One of the most satisfying reads of the year, MISS BENSON'S BEETLE is not only rich in characterization, but fiendishly plotted, a page-turner that is almost impossible to put down. Margery Benson is the quintessential British eccentric: an introverted, dowdy spinster. Scarred by a childhood tragedy, she is jolted from her complacency by an unexpected cruelty that sends her back to the dreams of her childhood: the quest to find a golden beetle that is purported to exist in one of the most remote regions of the world (New Caledonia). Advertising for an assistant, Margery gets far more than she bargains for. Enid Pretty is a brash adventurer with her own secrets -- a woman who can't stop talking and who manipulates her world in a struggle to survive. Amidst a rollercoaster ride of evading customs inspectors, surviving nature's fury, and confronting cultural dislocation, the two women discover not only magnificent beetles, but a rich and exotic friendship that brings meaning to their lives. Spoilers: the end is tragic -- yet triumphant. A thoroughly satisfying novel, MISS BENSON'S BEETLE is an immersive reading experience that reminds us of why books matter.

Margery Benson is introduced in this story as a ten year old girl, sitting in her father's study and enjoying his company as he shares the book Incredible Creatures. She is quite taken with the sketches of animals and in particular a Golden Beetle from New Caledonia.

Suddenly this pleasant moment is shattered when her father receives a visitor telling him all four of his sons have been killed in the war. His grief and shock is so great that he immeditely goes outside and kills himself. This life shattering event forces Margery and her mother to leave their home and live with relatives.

We quickly jump to 1950 in London, Margery is an unmarried disheveled school teacher getting zero respect or joy in her job. After a particularly horrible day at school she sinks into depression and suddenly remembers a bright spot in her life; her former obsession with the golden beetle in New Caledonia.

Margery decides to upend her sorry, boring life and take an adventure to look for the golden beetle. Some of that inspiration may come from wanting to connect to her much missed father, in my opinion. She knows nothing about New Caledonia and advertises for an assistant who speaks French so she will have an interpreter. After interviewing several people she ends up with an unlikely companion, Miss Enid Pretty. This beuatiful blonde tells her, after they are well underway toward New Caledonia, that she does not in fact speak French. She only knows "Bon Shoor" and off they go. Margery and Enid set off unprepared for an adventure of their lifetime.

These women couldn't be more different in looks and personality but a true friendship develops as they move through the jungle, end up in crazy predicaments and their lives intertwine. I very much liked the end but the middle of the book dragged a bit, just for a while.

Much thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. Opinions are mine and I was not compensated for this review.
This book will be published November 24, 2020.

Margery Benson's life is upended twice in one day in 1914. She is only 10 years old when her beloved father shows her a book, Incredible Creatures. The creature that captures her heart may or may not exist: the golden beetle of New Caledonia. Plain at first glance, it is actually gleaming gold. Her first introduction to the idea that she herself can discover something new opens her world to dreams of expeditions to unimaginable places.

Minutes later, her father answers the doorbell, learns that his sons have all been killed in the war, and commits suicide.

We next see Margery during the hard years in post-WWII England, teaching domestic science in a girls' school. Emotionally damaged by a disastrous affair, she has abandoned her studies of beetles. A large, plain woman, worn-out shoes bear her through a drab life where even blue skies seem rationed as she tries to teach homely skills to mean girls. When Margery forces one of those girls to cede another student's vicious carton of herself as a lumpy old woman, she leaves the classroom and hopes to take a brief refuge in a staff room that smells of "gravy and old cardigans." The tea is tepid, the flat she will go home to is cold, and something impels her to steal a new, thick pair of lacrosse boots from a class deputy. Fleeing (or staggering because of her painful hip) onto a bus, holding the stolen boots, she is suddenly reawakened to her long-buried desire to find that gold beetle in New Caledonia.

Most of the book is a true tragicomic tale of Margery and the thoroughly-inappropriate assistant she is forced to accept, as they endure a rough sea voyage and begin to hack through the foliage to the mountaintop where the beetle may be found. Enid Pretty, the assistant, is a superstitious blonde bombshell in flimsy sandals whose flightiness belies a strong sense of loyalty, and strong desire for a baby of her own. Another applicant, Mr. Mundic, is a former POW whose ghastly experiences in a Burmese camp have left him emaciated, edgy, and delusional, although extremely methodical.

Margery plunges into this scientific odyssey because she believes it would please - have pleased - her father. Enid's determination to go halfway around the world is as hidden as the second, delicate set of a beetle's wings. Mr. Mundic, believing that the expedition should have been his to lead and protect, stows away and follows the women, for reasons he has contrived from his tragic past.

Lost luggage, a leaky shack in the middle of nowhere, snobbish and morbidly curious wives from the British Consulate on the island, cyclones, and Enid's absurd slippers coexist with the details, beautiful and strange, of New Caledonia. Days of tedious hacking and climbing alternate with glimpses of birds exploding out of trees, and a comet streaking through the dark, starry sky. Each character's true nature unfolds in this natural world, growing and adapting and finding shared purpose despite differences. Each scene and challenge is vivid and necessary. This is an engrossing, enthralling book, to be savored and appreciated as a delicate specimen of something wholly unexpected.

4 stars.
(I am withholding one star because I was very disappointed and disheartened by the author's approach to an issue that is meaningful to me. Others readers may not agree.)
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC to review.

I have mixed feelings about Miss Benson's Beetle. It starts off so strong -- immediately captivating. For the most part, Margery's quest is charming and entertaining and even suspenseful. However, Enid got on my nerves a bit; she grew tiresome and was "too much." The "stalker" storyline (don't want to give any spoilers) felt misplaced and unnecessary. Some parts - e.g. the ship ride - needed a bit of editing. I did enjoy the writing and the ending and I adored Margery's character growth.

Two unlikely people get together to survive together to find the elusive golden beetle. This story shows how an unlikely friendship can survive and end up helping each other in ways they never could have foreseen.

This is a wonderful book about friendship, fulfilling one’s dreams, and starting over. Enid Benson at 46 decides to fulfill her dream of finding the Golden Beetle in New Caledonia so off she goes with Enid Pretty as her companion, the two could not be more different. A bond is formed along with any number of complications in what becomes a story about discovery.

I was so excited to read Rachel Joyce again as I enjoyed her previous writing, "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye". You can't help but empathize and love Rachel's characters. Margery and Enid do not disappoint. This is an introspective and advnetourous journey for Margery in search of a rare beetle and the unlikely bond of friendship that develops along the way. Heartwarming.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an e-ARC of this enthralling and unique story set in England 1950.

In this books by Rachel Joyce, Margery Benson and Enid Pretty, set off on an adventure to New Caledonia in pursuit of Margery's dream of finding the Golden Beetle. Realizing she can not travel alone, Margery hires Enid to be her assistant. On this life-changing journey, the two friends work through their differences and come to understand and appreciate their differences.

Merits: As in previous novels, Rachel Joyce doesn't disappoint her readers. The unique characters and the rich and descriptive plot will hook you, but you'll keep reading because Margery and Enid will worm their way into your heart.

Shortcomings: The pacing of the book faltered a little in the middle, but nothing too much, that would have stopped me from finishing the book. A bigger issue was the POW character whose character felt unnecessary and seemed to distract rather than contribute to the conflict and tension.

Verdict: I would definitely purchase this book to add to the"Teacher/Staff" section of the school library.