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

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Aunque a ratos deseara estrangularla, el personaje de Belle Brodie es la mar de interesante, y con gusto me hubiera gustado seguir leyendo sobre ella.

It was also lovely to explore the connections in my home town – so much of the built environment in Edinburgh is still there, though the city boundary used to be at the Water of Leith. com/thefairbotanists where I’m sharing lots of what I’ve found – Edinburgh history, biographies of interesting characters, botanical stories and the progress of the book. Moreover, the descriptions of weather, the clothes of rich, manual worker and the poor, their household items, perfumery and ingredients make this realistic as does the spattering of Georgian Scots dialect. and Mhairi, a blind woman who is a whizz at whisky blending and might just be able to help Belle out.Its the best novel I have read for ages,with several subplots and a range of plausible characters both real and imaginary. It’s around this extraordinary moment in Edinburgh history – and the historic visit of George IV to the city later that summer, which led to what became known as the “Daft Days” of runaway royalist enthusiasm. This book combines fact about the history of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, and many of the people who worked in and around it, with fictional elements and characters to create a good story surrounding the move of location of the gardens in 1822 and the flowering of the rare 'century plant'. The heroines are no-nonsense and although they want independent lives for themselves, they understand they must do so within what is possible at that time and place.

She'd had a horrible past, but I felt her ending was just a little bit too dependent on being saved rather than having her save herself. Sara Sheridan has created a captivating, utterly convincing world and a wonderfully heartwarming story. Her interest in botany and especially illustration, brings her into contact with those working at the new botanical gardens. True history lingers in the background as the King is paying a visit to the city so it really come to life.There were hints that things were going to happen further into the book, but my patience ran out about halfway through. by every character, including Sir Walter Scott who never used it (in his writing) so far as I can see. The fact that this story is set in Edinburgh (one of my favourite cities) during the visit of King George IV - a setting I've written myself in A FORBIDDEN LIAISON WITH MISS GRANT - made me even more inclined to like it. I really enjoyed the exploration of growing female independence in a male world - Belle and Elizabeth will stay with me for a long time. This actually happened, and the William McNab of the book was the real man who oversaw this incredible feat.

All it does is pad out an already exceptionally fluffy story – there were multiple points in reading it where I felt my eyes glaze over as yet another useless, trite piece of backstory was delivered in flat and uninspired prose. In the newly-installed Botanic Garden, the Agave Americana plant looks set to flower – an event that only occurs once every few decades.It didn’t take very long for the paths of the characters to cross – which is something I like in a book where there are many characters and stories.

Unfortunately it doesn't produce many seeds, yet everyone seems to want a piece of the plant for their own. McNab has more to lose than most, Elizabeth wants to capture the rare event with her art, and Belle… well, she is seeking the missing ingredient for a perfume so powerfully mystical it will secure her future. Seeing fictional characters walking side by side with real historical figures was magical and it created a wonderful picture of Edinburgh society at that time.

Everything is told to you, everything is narrated, and every single character gets their turn on the point of view. There’s a plant, an Agave Americana that is set to flower and may people are interested in the seeds. Sara Sheridan builds each layer, and connects each strand, with beautifully written descriptive pose. This emotion was ignited by our fantastic free walking tour guide Rory (if you happen to be in Edinburgh, do book a free walking tour with City Explorers) who managed to introduce us to Scotland's and Edinburgh's rich history and the mentality of their people within two hours while also being entertaining, funny and at the same time mindful of the not-so-shiny-parts such as involvement in the slave trade, Highland Clearances or neglected female history. Although I enjoyed the book and appreciated the atmosphere of anticipation it never completely hooked me, despite my interest in the central protagonists of Elizabeth and Belle, because I only ever felt superficially involved with their dilemmas.

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