The Fair Botanists, Sara Sheridan
The Fair Botanists, Sara Sheridan
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The Fair Botanists
The bewitching and fascinating Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year pick full of scandal and intrigue

Author: Sara Sheridan

Narrator: Cathleen McCarron

Unabridged: 13 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/05/2021

Synopsis

The Fair Botanists is a bewitching and immersive story for fans of Jessie Burton, Sarah Perry and The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock.

Could one rare plant hold the key to a thousand riches?

It's the summer of 1822 and Edinburgh is abuzz with rumours of King George IV's impending visit. In botanical circles, however, a different kind of excitement has gripped the city. In the newly-installed Botanic Garden, the Agave Americana plant looks set to flower - an event that only occurs once every few decades.

When newly widowed Elizabeth arrives in Edinburgh to live with her late husband's aunt Clementina, she's determined to put her unhappy past in London behind her. As she settles into her new home, she becomes fascinated by the beautiful Botanic Garden which borders the grand house and offers her services as an artist to record the rare plant's impending bloom. In this pursuit, she meets Belle Brodie, a vivacious young woman with a passion for botany and the lucrative, dark art of perfume creation.

Belle is determined to keep both her real identity and the reason for her interest the Garden secret from her new friend. But as Elizabeth and Belle are about to discover, secrets don't last long in this Enlightenment city . . .

And when they are revealed, they can carry the greatest of consequences.

(P) 2021 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

About Sara Sheridan

Sara Sheridan has written more than 20 books including novels, non-fiction, TV tie ins, and ghost writing. Her work has been the First Minister's Summer Pick at the David Hume Institute, shortlisted for the Saltire Prize, the Wilbur Smith Prize and the CWA Dagger in the Library, and she has also won a Scottish Libraries Award. Her novel The Fair Botanists was the Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2022 and featured in series seven of the Queen's Reading Room. Sara has also written two plays for BBC Radio 4 and has reported from both Tallin and Sharjah for Radio 4's Our Own Correspondent.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Andy on November 18, 2024

I loved the first half of this book, and especially its descriptions of the Botanic Gardens and its staff. In the second half, however, the focus shifted from the working class to the well-to-do characters, who were, for the most part, as conceited, as self-interested and, ultimately, as boring as y......more

Goodreads review by 8stitches 9lives on August 05, 2021

The Fair Botanists is a captivating and intoxicating historical epic set in 1822 Edinburgh. The story surrounds the pomp and intrigue in Scotland’s Enlightenment City centred around the Royal Botanic Garden in the run-up to the visit of King George IV. In the spring and summer of 1822, the citizens......more

Goodreads review by Emma on July 19, 2022

This was an almost perfect read! It was so refreshing to read a book set in Edinburgh for a start. The characters were a wonderful mixture, not just the MCs but the secondary characters as well. It was fascinating to be witness to the progress of botanical science and the mechanics of setting up a g......more

Goodreads review by Thebooktrail on August 05, 2021

Visit the locations in the novel The Fair Botanists Travel to the Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh This is a great book. An immersive read and a heartfelt, human story of science and botany. That’s no small feat for an author to achieve but it’s a wonderful world that Sara has created here. A mix of fact......more

Goodreads review by Maria Grazia on July 22, 2021

Reading The Fair Botanists has been my latest fascinating journey back in time. I’m grateful I had the chance to fling away to Edinburgh back then, in 1822, at a time of cultural brilliancy and great change. As I am fond of Scotland, the 19th century, historical fiction and - why not? - flowers and p......more

Quotes

Sheridan creates an evocative, enjoyable portrait of 1820s Edinburgh and of two women determined to lead independent lives. Sunday Times

Completely enchanting and fascinating . . . a rollicking and immensely readable tale . . . Sheridan succeeds in what very few have attempted before; in imagining early 19th century Edinburgh as a genuine if imperfect city of enlightenment, a thrilling, optimistic and romantic landscape where science flourishes, beauty is created, wrongs are righted, possibilities are infinite, and women can begin to dream, at last, of how it might feel to be free. Scotsman

A novel which challenges literary expectations about the perspectives from which major events and authors might be seen and interpreted. It knocks predictable conventions of perspective off kilter. It refocuses attention to priorities that are often neglected or oppressed - the experiences, perspectives and judgements of women. It's engagingly written, compelling, lucid and surprising, with a memorable cast of characters and a social vision of an Edinburgh caught up in the Hanoverian ascendancy, which it has never completely left behind. The National, Scotland

Lush, seductive and scandalous, this is a gorgeous read. Daily Mail

Compelling, fascinating and incisive about its social context. A cracking good read

What a beautiful, immersive gem of historical fiction this is! Good Housekeeping

An absolute treat for fans of historical fiction and rich storytelling. Red Magazine

A vibrant mix of history, romance and mystery I Paper

Dazzling, original, full of wonderful characters and so interesting! Anyone who's ever looked at a flower will love it as much as I do.

Joyously seductive prose with evocatively-drawn characters, The Fair Botanists is a beautiful tale of scandal and intrigue firmly rooted in the capital of 1820s Scotland.

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