Haywards Heath Happy Ladies Book Club

The good thing about the Happy Ladies Book Club is that collectively we are finding that we are discovering books that we wouldn’t ordinarily read. Sometimes we find hidden gems and sometimes some of us don’t finish a book because it’s not our thing but that’s ok. We just discuss what we liked and what we didn’t and usually we find something about the book that we had missed.

Our member’s selection for July 13th “A Botanical Daughter” by Noah Medlock
This is a captivating tale of two Victorian gentlemen hiding their relationship away in a botanical garden who embark on a Frankenstein-style experiment with unexpected consequences.

Whilst it is an unusual thing, to live in a botanical garden Simon and Gregor are an unusual pair of gentlemen. Hidden away in their glass sanctuary from the disapproving tattle of Victorian London, they are free to follow their own interests without interference. For Simon, this means long hours in the dark basement workshop, working his taxidermical art. Gregor's business is exotic plants – lucrative, but harmless enough. Until his latest acquisition, a strange fungus which shows signs of intellect beyond any plant he's seen, inspires him to attempt a masterwork: true intelligent life from plant matter.

Driven by the glory he'll earn from the Royal Horticultural Society for such an achievement, Gregor ignores the flaws in his plan: that intelligence cannot be controlled; that plants cannot be reasoned with; and that the only way his plant-beast will flourish is if he uses a recently deceased corpse for the substrate.

The experiment – or Chloe, as she is named – outstrips even Gregor's expectations, entangling their strange household. But as Gregor's experiment flourishes, he wilts under the cost of keeping it hidden from jealous eyes. The mycelium grows apace in this sultry greenhouse. But who is cultivating whom?

Told with wit and warmth, this is an extraordinary tale of family, fungus and more than a dash of bloody revenge from an exciting new voice in queer horror.

Join us at Miller & Carter HH and tell us what you think about “A Botantical Daughter”

Our member’s selection for August 17th is “Two Women in Rome” by Elizabeth Buchan

Synopsis
Lottie Archer arrives in Rome excited newly married and ready for change as she takes up a job as an archivist. When she discovers a valuable fifteenth-century painting, she is drawn to find out more about the woman who left it behind, Nina Lawrence.

All attendees will have the opportunity to choose a book so please bring your selection for future months.