The latest pick for the travel adventure book group in East Craftsbury is Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce, description below. Copies available at the John Woodruff Simpson Memorial Library.
From the back of the book:
It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get through life, surviving on scraps. One day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and small existence to set out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist--the golden beetle of New Caledonia. When she advertises for an assistant to accompany her, the woman she ends up with is the last person she had in mind. Fun-loving Enid Pretty in her tight-fitting pink suit and pom-pom sandals seems to attract trouble wherever she goes. But together these two British women find themselves drawn into a cross-ocean adventure that exceeds all expectations and delivers something neither of them expected to find: the transformative power of friendship.
Here is what author Barbara Kingsolver said about this book on a recent Instagram post:
"If you're wishing you could be in a faraway land right now, but would accept the alternative route to New Caledonia via a deliciously improbable plot, wonderful characters, sparkling sentences, and too many belly laughs to count: have I got a novel for you.
Trust me. You will love this escape. Bon voyage."
Feb 8, 2025, 10 AM to 2 PM
Seasonal Sing with Heidi Wilson at the Simpson LibraryFeb 8, 2025, 3 to 5 PM
Woodbury Fire & Rescue USDA Public Meeting NoticeFeb 13, 2025, 6:30 to 7:30 PM