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

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In The Fair Botanists , Sheridan has expertly woven multiple strands of machinations, a heady mix of sex, intrigue, scent, and flora.

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. 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.

The pace was slow but deliciously told, the characters were really interesting and believable, I particularly enjoyed the Edinburgh setting which I could visualise so clearly. Lush, seductive and scandalous, this is a romantic tale of two intriguing women and their evolving friendship. Aunque es una compañía poco recomendable por su profesión, es querida por sus sirvientes e invitada a numerosos eventos por su intelecto y carácter. 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'. And of course, I greatly enjoyed reading about botany and Elizabeth's artistic and Belle's perfumer interests as all of these are my own, too.

The story gets off to a fairly slow start I suspect due to the extensive cast and their context requiring introduction, and whilst I was fascinated by all the jockeying for seeds and build-up to flowering, I felt the novel was bogged down with extraneous details. Even beyond the style struggles, the prose problems, and the tense troubles, the story itself is utterly, entirely unforgettable, with as much hold on the reader as a gentle breeze. It’s doesn’t trample on ahead at a rate of knots so you get lost in the plot, but equally it isn’t slow and difficult to get through. One of the things I’m interested in just now is the differences between Edinburgh and Glasgow and where those differences came from.

Sheridan creates an evocative, enjoyable portrait of 1820s Edinburgh and of two women determined to lead independent lives. It's an Edinburgh which is recognisable to me and yet a growing Edinburgh with so many landmarks not yet part of the cityscape. She reminds me a little of the main protagonist in Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘City of Girls’ – confident and unashamed in her pursuit of pleasure.