The Fair Botanists: Could one rare plant hold the key to a thousand riches?

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The Fair Botanists is set in summer 1822 against a backdrop of Edinburgh abuzz with change and excitement, not least swirling rumours about King George IV's impending visit. Elizabeth sees the plant and the gardens as her way of integrating with society, of feeling useful and productive.

The Fair Botanists by Sara Sheridan – review – From First The Fair Botanists by Sara Sheridan – review – From First

There seems to be a trend lately, at least in the eyes of a casual observer, for historical novels that shine a light on very niche, long-forgotten subject matter. Add into the mix the impending arrival of King George III, everyone pulls together to try to make the visit triumphant and perhaps bring fresh, new and much needed investors to the Botanical Gardens.You are free… You have power, power that will present itself to you slowly, so as not to overwhelm you. When Mirabelle Bevan is rescued from a fire at her home on the Brighton seafront she’s lucky to escape unharmed – but the blaze takes the life of her neighbour, Dougie Beaumont, a dashing and successful racing driver living in the flat above. The illegitimate child of a peer, she has chosen to live her life as a courtesan, a mistress to two men of wealth. Around this, a rich cast of characters assemble, each with their own personal motive for wanting to be close to this once-in-a-lifetime flower. This is where we meet her – and where Griffiths (known for her Dr Ruth Galloway series) has a lot of fun setting up the scares that follow.

The Fair Botanists: Sara Sheridan on her new historical novel The Fair Botanists: Sara Sheridan on her new historical novel

in 2019, bringing together more than 1,200 stories of Scottish women from history whose achievements had been overlooked or forgotten. She has to keep the secret of her unhappy marriage from her husband’s relatives, though more and more is revealed about her life before. The detail Sara Sheridan the author provides of this period through her description of people, places and life in a capital city of wealth and poverty is superb. Sara Sheridan builds each layer, and connects each strand, with beautifully written descriptive pose. Our features are original articles from our print magazines (these will say where they were originally published) or original articles commissioned for this site.

We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse. The centre of the attacks has been on neighbouring Huwara, where nearly 400 Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers. 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. It soon becomes clear that much of the mounting interest in the resituated gardens stems from the fervour around the imminent blooming of the prize Agave americana plant and not all of that concern is entirely altruistic. Currently obsessed with late Georgian/ early Victorian culture, the subject of several of my novels, and with 1950s Britain for my Mirabelle Bevan murder mystery series set across the UK - and even one in Paris.