Miss Benson's Beetle (Hardback)

'... uplifting' - Stylist

'Rachel Joyce created an unforgettable character with Harold Fry and she's done it again with Margery Benson ... Hilarious' - Good Housekeeping

'An enchanting story of friendship and self-discovery' - Scottish Herald

'I greatly enjoyed this warm and charming novel about one of the most ill-matched companions in comic literature. The heroically intellectual, ungainly, unsociable Margery and the barely literate, flighty, charming, crazy Enid are both brave in very different yet ultimately compatible ways. Their adventures both on board ship and in New Caledonia read like EF Benson's Mapp and Lucia rewritten by the gentler pen of Barbara Pym' - Amanda Craig, author of The Golden Rule

'I've loved Rachel's writing since Harold's canvas shoes. Miss Benson's Beetle is just as brilliant and elegant and wise. It's also powerful and moving and I can't recommend it enough' - Joanna Cannon

'I loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, but Miss Benson's Beetle is even better. The characters have a richness and depth that drew me into their story immediately. And what characters! This book is far more than an unexpected adventure, it's a beautiful portrayal of female friendship in all its frailties, contradictions and strengths. It made me think we all have the power to be so much more than we imagine when we cut the chains of expectation. I actually feel as if I've just lost a positive, powerful friend - I'm cut adrift, I haven't been so immersed in a novel for years' - Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path

'Rachel Joyce is a masterful storyteller. She has written the perfect book for these times. Funny, perceptive and life-enhancing. I urge you to read it' - Sarah Winman, author of When God was a Rabbit

'Miss Benson's Beetle is the perfect escape novel for our troubled times, about a woman in emotional, professional and physical lockdown who breaks free to reclaim her true self. It's as funny and nourishing as a classic Ealing comedy, as feminist as your formidable great-aunt' - Patrick Gale, author of Notes from an Exhibition

'I fell in love with the unlikely friendship between two wildly different women, Enid Pretty and Margery Benson-their devotion to each other as they trek up and down mountains in someplace called New Caledonia is a hysterical delight. This novel made me realize how hungry I am for stories about women loving each other into being their best selves. Many thanks to Rachel Joyce for writing one' - Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward

'A beautifully written, extraordinary quest in which two ordinary, overlooked women embark on an unlikely scientific expedition to the South Seas. A classic tale of gripping adventure and friendship, told from the subversive and often hilarious female view' - Helen Simonson, New York Times bestselling author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand