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

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Set against some real historical events, and featuring important figures of the time, such as Sir Walter Scott, it’s a really fascinating read,which had me cheering on the female protagonists and some of the men who support them. Elizabeth and Belle’s stories weave in and out with those of other prominent and not so prominent members of Edinburgh society. I've only heard it once, about 20 years ago, when the speaker was being very disparaging (insulting, in fact) about something I had done. 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. But as Elizabeth and Belle are about to discover, secrets don't last long in this Enlightenment city .

Clementina is a newcomer to the city, she is to live with her inlaws after the death of her husband.Ella es una viuda "rescatada" de la incipiente pobreza en la que la ha dejado su marido, y a la que su sobrino acoge a condición de que cuide a una familiar mayor y algo senil (Lady Clementina), otra de las protagonistas más divertidas de la novela. I really enjoyed the two main characters and their friendship but most of the time it really felt like Edinburgh and the botanical garden were the true main characters of the story. And it was that that drew me, I think – being on the cusp of change, the New Town being so … well … new. Mind that this review might be much more subjective than usual as I picked up The Fair Botanists during my vacation in Scotland and it echoes how much admiration I have for this country since my recent visit.

It's much sought after by many for varied reasons and many of the characters in this book have reason to want to get a hold of its valuable flowers and seeds. What is less great, though, is when certain things are written in present tense that should really, really be written in past tense.Elizabeth hasn’t had a particularly happy marriage and this move promises to open up new experiences. This lends itself to making the story of Belle and Elizabeth believable, fun, enjoyable and a little risque (in its 18th century setting). They are brought together by way of the flowering of a rare aloe plant in the city's Botanical Garden, but their respective interests in it differ hugely.