Hello wonderful book lovers!
Once again it is time for another Book Club Wrap Up. I swear I’m going to get better at putting these up earlier! As I’m sure you are all aware by now I organise and host a monthly book club at my work, Harry Hartog Woden, and each month I wrap up how we felt about the book, what books we said we are currently loving and I interview the author.
For the month of September the book of the month was The Botanist’s Daughter by Kayte Nunn.
The Botanist’s Daughter is a beautiful mix of historical fiction, mystery and botany. The book follows two separate time lines and stories; in Victorian England headstrong Elizabeth takes up her fathers quest to travel to Chile and track down a rare and potentially dangerous plant. While in present day Australia, Anna finds a mysterious metal box containing a sketchbook of dazzling water colours, a photograph inscribed ‘Spring 1886’ and a small bag of seeds.
I really enjoyed this novel and it was generally an overall hit at this month’s Book Club. There were some people who really loved this book, myself included, and some who it just wasn’t for but that’s okay! I think a lot of this comes down to what you go into it expecting.
Anyways my point is I loved this book (4 / 5 ★) and would recommend it to others! The only problem we found with it though was that the story is fairly complete and wrapped up and exactly what it is meant to be, while this isn’t a bad thing, it didn’t leave much room for discussion on the book itself. In this way we didn’t find it the best book for a book club but we filled in our extra time by discussing all the books we are currently loving!!
I will put up a list of these books at the end of this blog post but for now here is the interview I was lucky enough to conduct with the wonderful author of this beautiful book, Kayte Nunn.
INTERVIEW
Where did you get the inspiration for The Botanist’s Daughter? Was any of it based on real events?
A little over three years ago, I took my young daughter for a picnic in the Sydney Botanic Gardens. It was a hot sultry day and we were looking for fairies when we came upon the rose garden, and then next to that the herb garden. In the centre of the herb garden is a beautiful bronze sundial, with a raised relief of herbs around it. I put my hand on the warm metal and it was like a bolt of lightning – I had a vision of a young woman in a walled garden in England, with a similar sundial at its centre. I knew straightaway that I had the beginnings of a story and wandered around the rest of the day in a daze, figuring out what it might be.
It is not based on real events, though I did read stories of plant hunters and to what ends some of them would go in their search for rare plants.
The Botanist’s Daughter is based in Sydney, Cornwall and Chile. Why did you choose to base the book in these locations, have you visited all of them and did you draw on your own experience of these places for inspiration?
I spent many years in Sydney and so wrote about places I had lived in and walked through. When I was a child I spent summer holidays in Cornwall, so that was a familiar location as well, and I based the story there because the county is known for its profusion of gardens and plants grow especially well there as the climate is milder than in the rest of England. When I discovered a newspaper article online about a rare, poisonous plant that is native to Chile, and that had suddenly sprouted in an English suburban back garden, I knew that would be the plant that Elizabeth goes in search of – not least because it has the most wonderful name – the Devil’s Trumpet. I haven’t visited Chile, but as that part of the story was set in the 1880s, I researched the way the city of Valparaiso would have appeared in those times – and was lucky enough to find a few early photographs that helped me visualize it.
Do you have a personal interest in Botany? What made you choose to write a book around this subject?
I come from a line of plantswomen – my grandmother and mother were passionate gardeners. I’ve always loved plants; some of my earliest memories are pottering around with my grandmother in her greenhouse, and of her telling me the names of plants as we passed them. I also adore botanical illustration – the beauty, skill and precision of the drawings that are often better than photographs for identifying plants. I’m also fascinated by the medicinal properties of plants, and the fact that many of our modern medicines are based on them. From the first vision I had, I knew it would be a book about plants.
When did you realise that an interest could become a novel? (eg. Botany, wine making in Rose’s Vintage)
I think it was a slow realization. I read a bit about plant hunters in the 19th century, and some of their experiences made for terrific stories. Writers of fiction are lucky to be able to choose to write about things that interest them I suppose.
How much research did you need to do in preparation for writing this book especially in regards to botanical art and travel in the 1800’s?
I spent several months reading everything I could get my hands on from my local library and the State Library of NSW, including diary accounts of ocean travel in the 19th century, the export industry of Chile, and life in Victorian England. I spoke to online enthusiasts about ships and the routes they sailed at that time, I also went to several exhibitions of botanical art at Sydney museums. I visited Kew Gardens twice, where there is an amazing gallery of botanical paintings by Marianne North, a 19th century traveler, as well as displays of botanical art and plant hunters, showing the equipment they used and letters they wrote about their adventures. I also came across the diary of a 19th century sea captain’s widow who traveled to Valparaiso in the 1850s and her descriptions of the flora and markets and journeys into the countryside surrounding the town were invaluable. Pinterest was also helpful in researching Victorian clothing.
There were a lot of red herrings in the book and different ways the story could have unraveled. Did you always have the ending planned or did it surprise you as well?
I had to find a way for the sketchbook and diary to end up in Sydney, so there needed to be a fairly dramatic twist, but the specifics of which characters it involved unfolded as I wrote it, and particularly as Daisy became a stronger character in the book.
The story is told from two different perspectives, Anna and Elizabeth. Did you prefer one over the other? Or have a timeline/story narrative that your preferred writing?
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. I do have to confess a soft spot for Anna – I like her quiet brand of courage.
How did you feel when you were writing this book?
Excited as to where the story was taking me, and that what I was writing was a departure from my previous books, and in some ways more of a challenge.
How long did it take you to write The Botanist’s Daughter?
The best part of a year, but I was working as a freelance editor for some of that time, and finishing edits on my second book, so it was a little bit piecemeal.
What made you want to be a writer? Was it always something you wanted to do?
I’ve always loved books and words and stories and writing, from as soon as I could read by myself. I worked as a features writer and editor, getting very good at editing other people’s words, all the while ignoring the quiet voice telling me that what I really wanted to do was write my own stories. I finally summoned up the courage to begin, and am so pleased I did – it feels like the thing I am supposed to be doing.
Can you tell us a bit about your writing process? Do you have a strict schedule or write when inspiration strikes?
I can’t wait for inspiration or I’d never get anywhere! I write while my daughters are at school, but also sometimes at the weekend if I haven’t achieved the word count I set myself during the week. I take my laptop to their after-school activities if I have to wait there, and find a place to write, often in the car.
When I am walking or cooking or driving I’m also in the world of my current novel, thinking about the characters and what might happen next, so I make sure to always have a notebook to hand.
Do you have a favourite place to write and any writing rituals you follow? Eg favourite snack or drink you must have while writing?
I just like to be comfortable, and can write almost anywhere – a large part of The Botanist’s Daughter was written in the very prosaic surrounds of my local shopping centre, where my daughter was doing gymnastics several times a week. I’m lucky in that I can write with noise around me, can just block it out. I now have my own studio, which is a very new experience so I am just getting used to that – it stops me heading to the kitchen so often, which is a very good thing. I have to be sure to hide my phone – for some reason I don’t tend to check mail and social media on my laptop, but having my phone nearby is a terrible distraction.
What authors would you say have influenced you the most?
It’s hard to say what books have influenced me, as I don’t want to try and write exactly like another writer, but in terms of resonance, books from my childhood such as Elizabeth Gouge’s Green Dolphin Country, Rumer Godden’s The Greengage Summer and Riders by Jilly Cooper are probably still up there.
Do you see yourself as more of a romance writer or historical writer?
Neither really. I think I probably see myself as someone who writes books that feature strong female protagonists who have to make difficult decisions, often when it comes to who they love, but in relation to other things as well. I do also like the notion that items from the past can resonate through the years and still have power today and am looking forward to exploring that further in future books.
How did you transition from a journalist to a novelist?
I was working as a freelance journalist, and so was able to cut down on my freelance editing and writing as the fiction took up more of my time.
Can you tell us your top five favourite historical fiction novels?
- Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleeve
- Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
- The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
- Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
- The North Water by Ian Maguire
I also read a lot of contemporary fiction, and love writers such as Celeste Ng, Maggie O’Farrell, Sarah Winman, Gabrielle Zevin, Ann Patchett and Maria Semple.
Crime with great characters – Robert Galbraith, Sarah Vaughan, Louise Doughty.
And I also love rollicking commercial fiction – Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians was fabulous.
What are you currently reading?
Normal People by Sally Rooney
If you could recommend only one book to us what would it be?
That’s really hard, can I have two? The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. Both are wonderfully emotional and uplifting – you will laugh and cry.
Are you able to tell us what you are currently working on or what plans you have for the future?
I have just finished the major edits for my next book, The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant. 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. Sets out to discover who they belong to and why they were never sent.
Is there anything you would like to say to your readers?
To thank them wholeheartedly for their support – it means the absolute world to hear that someone has become lost in one of my books – and for buying and reading them! (And if you liked them, tell your friends!)
BOOKS WE ARE LOVING
Each month at Book Club we talk about and share a book we have read in the last month and loved!
Here are the books Harry Hartog Woden’s Book Club attendees have been loving:
- The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
- Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
- The Dry by Jane Harper
- The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
- Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown
- Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa
And while not a book, a podcast was recommended to the group and all book lovers:
Thank you for reading this month’s Book Club Wrap Up and as always thank you to all those wonderful people who attend Book Club each month and the amazing people at Hachette Australia for organising signed book plates and an interview opportunity for us!
Keep tuned for next month when we discuss The Second Cure by Margaret Morgan!
Claire Eva Reads 