Miss Benson's Beetle: An uplifting story of female friendship against the odds

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Rachel Joyce: I don't quite know where Enid came from in my head. But I now think she is the female creative spirit that we all need to tap into occasionally. I am glad you loved her. I love her too. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, Miss Benson’s Beetle is a quirky and poignant story about two women - one middle aged and frumpy, the other beautiful and uneducated - who go on an unlikely quest to locate a mythical beetle that may or may not exist. It’s such a well-drawn portrait of unique characters and the friendship that blooms from their adventure that it’s hard not to hope someone turns it into a movie or limited series one day. Q: Did you ever imagine Harold Fry to receive the kind of success it did? How did that success and attention change things for you as a writer? I’ve read several books by Rachel Joyce and this has to be her quirkiest yet. It is a book of extremes. Extremely eccentric characters – on an extremely improbable quest – to an extremely variant and inhospitable environment. Yet it works! 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.

There are echoes of classic travel adventures such as Around the World in Eighty Days, as genteel British explorers attempt to maintain their customs and decorum in the most un-British environments, and plenty of madcap capers to hinder our heroine, who regrets her impulsiveness almost as soon as she has set foot on board the ship to Australia. But there is a darker side too; the war has left scars, and Margery and her brash assistant, Enid, are pursued by a man deeply traumatised by his experiences in a Burmese prison camp, who has convinced himself that he is the only guide Miss Benson needs. Rachel Joyce: I love it when I am alone to write. I love it when I can allow my head to go where it needs to go. But I often don't get that.. I find closing the door is probably the most efficient way of staying focussed! And music. I always listen to music. Sometimes the same thing, over and over again on a loop. Rachel Joyce has a tremendous talent for writing characters we can empathise with and love even when they have serious issues! Margery is such a character and so is Enid, the woman she acquires as her assistant in her new self appointed career as a research etymologist. Both of them suffer some awful experiences but together they discover inner resources they never knew they had. 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”. Don’t miss this one! Marialyce and I have had a string of disappointing reads and dnf’s but this is the first fiction book in a while that we both loved. What is more perfect than to read a book about friendship with a friend?Margery puts an ad in the newspaper for an assistant. She interviews a war veteran, Mr Mundic, who is clearly unhinged. Mr Mundic becomes Margery’s stalker. She finally decides on an assistant, but then they quit at the last minute. Margery’s last resort is Enid Pretty. Margery dislikes her at once. I had even more issues with the introduction of Mundic, the POW. We were given very little information on him except that he was homeless, had memory issues and was mentally unstable. I did not like that he was portrayed as the villain. 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. Enid Pretty, in her unlikely pink travel suit, is not the companion Margery had in mind. And yet together they will be drawn into an adventure that will exceed every expectation. They will risk everything, break all the rules, and at the top of a red mountain, discover their best selves. 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.

Q: What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing? What would be your own advice for new writers? Enid and Margery take a cruise on their way to New Caledonia. On the cruise, Enid has a miscarriage. Margery has a fear of blood and faints in the hallway. Mr Mundic, who followed them onto the cruise, brings her to the infirmary. In the meantime, Mundic stalks the women. He is determined to get rid of Enid so that he may lead the expedition. Mrs Pope, the wife of the British consulate, is suspicious of the women. She suspects they are responsible for the theft of the jeep and the scientific equipment.

Miss Benson's Beetle attracted me for being suitably different from the rest of Rachel Joyce's 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. 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. This is a novel which will make you laugh aloud most of the time, yet once in a while you may shed a tear or two… And if you find a friend along the way, even in the most unlikeliest of places, it’s a precious thing to be held close to your heart. I found Marjory not an easy woman to like. She oozed disappointment. I empathized with her childhood but after that, I never engaged with her character. 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

Rachel Joyce: I had no idea! It completely took me by surprise. Of course, that kind of success is like the biggest affirmation - and it's wonderful - but it can also be a challenge. I am a pretty quiet person, and suddenly I was being asked to go everywhere. And also success has to come with failure. If you experience the one, you are also going to experience the other. Even though people might have wanted it, I couldn't repeat Harold Fry. He was a one-off. In 1950, Margery Benson abandons her dead-end teaching job and advertises for an assistant to accompany her on an expedition. She is going to travel to an island on the other side of the world to search for an elusive beetle that may or may not exist.In the meantime, they are being followed by a former soldier who endured the horrors of the Burmese march and imprisonment by the Japanese. He is broken physically, mentally, and spiritually. Having psychotic episodes, he presents a danger to himself and others. Also, in the storyline, are British wives leading frivolous lives in the capitol, one who is targeting our two explorers.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, Miss Benson’s Beetle is a quirky and poignant story about two women - one middle aged and frumpy, the other beautiful and uneducated - who go on an unlikely quest to locate a mythical beetle that may or may not exist. It’s such a vividly-drawn portrait of unique characters and the friendship that blooms from their adventure that it’s hard not to hope someone turns it into a movie or limited series one day (as reviewer MarilynW previously noted!). In the Insect Gallery of the Natural History Museum—Margery found beetles that lived in the roots of trees, that lived inside dung…beetles that fed on rose petals, that fed on rotting flesh—many in glass cases and drawers—but nowhere did she find her father’s golden beetle 🪲 of New Caledonia. 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. These deeply human characters show us that even with their differences they can learn from each other and create a deep bond. Margery is always conscious of her physical appearance, tall and a bit limp with one leg. With shortages after the war, her clothes are not that attractive, making her a joke target of young kids at school. Enid is attractive, and so not ready for an adventure in the wild. But she is wild herself, unpredictable and completely illogical. However, the life’s obstacles along their journey, when they need each other, bond them despite their differences.Q: How do you write from the perspective of difficult and broken characters such as Mr.Mundic and how do you imagine their struggle?