Kayte Nunn "The Botanist's Daughter"

Sydney, Hachette Australia, 2018

 

Kayte Nunn’s The Botanist’s Daughter is a lovely historical fiction novel. It tells two parallel stories of two different women, two different eras, two different fates. Yet, there is obviously some kind of a connection between the two.

Elizabeth is a young unmarried woman who lives in 19th-century England who, after her father’s passing, travels to South America with her maid to fulfil his final wish.

Anna is also a young unmarried woman, but she lives in 21^st-century Australia where this clearly isn’t such a big deal. She is getting her late grandmother’s house renovated and finds something mysterious, special and seemingly of great value.

I’m not sure I would say both women face great adventures during their journey in this book but there are definitely some secrets and lies. And even though death, secrets and lies may seem like the makings of one depressing novel, I would rather describe it as thought-provoking and rather hopeful. I think there were parts in this novel many people can relate to and being able to find something in a book that resonates with you is definitely one of my favourite things about reading.

I loved the amount of nature in the book. There were mentions of plants I was already familiar with, as well as those I had to Google in order to find what they look or smell like, what they are used for or do they even actually exist. Some might find it annoying, but I think for me it made the novel a little bit more interesting even.

I’m not exactly sure how I feel about the characters. None of them annoyed me, which in my case is sort of rare, but I don’t feel any of them amazed me either. Did I care what was going to happen to them? Yes and no. I cared enough to keep reading and not once did I feel like calling it quits and moving on to another book but like I said, I didn’t find any of them particularly fascinating. Maybe it’s because I feel they lacked a bit of depth; I would have liked to know even more about their past and background.

The Botanist’s Daughter is a fairly slow-paced novel and maybe that’s why I found the ending kind of abrupt. I loved the writing style; it was beautiful and made reading very easy and enjoyable. The only thing about the writing I didn’t like was the use of some Spanish words in the text (I’m not even exactly sure why that bothered me) and their incorrect spelling. I just feel that if you care enough to bring another language into play, it would be much appreciated to actually spell check the words and expressions you are using. It shows respect. The written accents in Spanish aren’t there just for fun. I obviously didn’t take that into account when deciding how many stars to give the book. Just thought it was worth mentioning.

I had a weird feeling the book might be getting a sequel but apparently the author has confirmed there will be no sequel and the loose ends are meant to make the reader think about what might happen next. The Botanist’s Daughter does indeed leave some loose ends so if you’re a fan of books with fixed endings, this might not be for you. However, if you don't mind the write-your-own-ending option, you’ll definitely have something to think about for a while after finishing the last page. It's a nice summer read for all nature and historical fiction lovers.

“You’ve got that look,” he said with a sad smile. “When you think no one is watching. Like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders. I noticed it when we first met, and then at the party I was sure. (…) It’s something I’m familiar with.”

 

“There’s no prize for mourning the longest. Or the hardest. Sooner or later you have to start living again. There is no other way.”