The Botanist's Daughter

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A marine scientist is sent to a remote British island where she discovers a cache of unsent love letters, written in the 1950s, in an old suitcase. Ms Nunn’s book took me into that world, with the hardships of service in the jungle not far from enemy lines and the power of friendship.

When she had a few weeks off from her job and was fortunate enough to be able to drop her daughter off at daycare, she started thinking of writing. Pelham over Christmas holidays; she’s been invited to a New Year’s Eve party in Ireland and she asks Olivia to take her. The Women’s Auxiliary Service of Burma (“Wasbies”) were an intrepid group of women who supported the 14th Army during WW2 by providing the troops with food and drink and boosting morale.Much of the detail in the story comes from the diary of one of the surviving Wasbies who wrote about her experiences in India and Burma with the 14th Army.

I was pleased to find that I enjoyed each timeline equally as much, perhaps thanks to the character of Olivia, who stars as the enigmatic second lead in the present-tense timeline. Told partly in 1944/5 and partly in 1999 we discover what life was like for young (Bea started in the Wasbies when she was only twenty) girls from sheltered homes who had to endure the heat and humidity of working in a jungle with only rudimentary housing and equipment. K., operating under the acronym WASBIES, really existed and must have really aided the war effort there. I enjoyed both – and writing with a slightly different voice for each to help give the flavour of the time was a lot of fun. Keen to learn more about the netsuke, Olivia is intrigued as Beatrix reveals how the ‘ fox-girl’ first came into her possession as a gift from her first love when they were both serving in Burma during WWII.From attempting to successfully run a mobile canteen and negotiate the dangerous roads of Burma, along with avoiding enemy fire, the women put their lives on the lines for the sake of this deadly battle. The setting of Chile was vividly engaging and I applaud Kayte for how beautifully rendered this was. This was further aided by providing the atmospheric setting of Beatrice’s rambling English mansion as a backdrop, serving as a crass contrast to the humid Burmese jungle the five women served in during the war.

You can really see where she got much of her inspiration from and there’s a definite magic associated with seeing the novel come to life when you’re viewing all of the images she’s saved.Reframing and reprinting these images, Haeseker brings into focus issues surrounding climate change and the human perception of it. Art dealer intern Olivia Goddard is excited when she’s given the opportunity to evaluate the authenticity of a unique collection of netsuke (small three dimensional carvings traditionally used by Japanese men to secure their kimono sash) including the elusive figure known as the ‘fox-girl’. I enjoyed listening to this story about four women and their friendship forged as members of the Womens Auxiliary Service Burma (Wasbies) in WW2. She soon discovers that she has been assigned to the first batch of girls ever to be allowed into the school in its one and a half century history. At the end of the war, they do what they can to help build the morale of the skeletal men who survived the Japanese POW camps and the Burma Railway.

for an independent art dealer who has sent her to find a particular piece of artwork that Beatrix has offered for sale.

Olivia is sent to assess the collection and determine whether there is provenance for the netsuke, which could be worth tens of thousands of pounds, but falls ill on the woman's doorstep and gets snowed in for Christmas. But even she underestimated the greed associated with being the first botanist to bring a new and powerful plant out into the world. They did more than hand out cups of hot tea and slices of home made cake, they boosted the morale of the troops and provided vital work supplying sundries like toothpaste, razor blades, lemonade and gum etc. They joined the Women’s Auxiliary Services, Wasbies, and took their mobile canteens to the men fighting the battles.