Searching for the Gold Bug

by Fran Withrow 03.2020

“Miss Benson’s Beetle” came to me at just the right time. I was ripe and ready for a story that was bursting with heart, and this charming novel by Rachel Joyce, author of “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry,” fit the bill perfectly.

Miss Benson is a serious, lonely, no-nonsense teacher living in London just after World War II. She has no family and teaching is not her calling. One day she snaps, does something totally out of character, and finds herself without a job. This leads her to realize that her life’s true vocation, on hold since childhood, is to find the elusive Golden Beetle of New Caledonia. Does it really exist? And is she capable of locating it?

Straitlaced Miss Benson decides she needs an assistant for this important endeavor, and the woman she ends up with, Enid Pretty, is one of the most delightfully flamboyant and eccentric characters I’ve ever run across. Together these two polar opposites set off for distant lands, ill-equipped in almost every way and bogged down by circumstances they never expected to encounter.

Reading about their trek is entertaining enough, but Joyce adds several layers of rich intrigue to the main story. What is Enid Pretty’s dark secret? Is she really who she says she is? Why is Miss Benson so aloof, and what caused her to give up her dream to find the Golden Beetle when she was younger? Who is the man who is following them, and what will happen when they finally meet up with him? (Because you know they will.)

Joyce paints every character with color and sympathy, and though I guessed the ending long before I got to the last page, I discovered I didn’t care. The writing is so engaging, with a side order of humor, that I found myself smiling all the way through. A deep empathy for all those who may be different, or hurting, or alone, undergirds the story. Even the man who follows Miss Benson is worthy of compassion.

The ending split my heart open, and I hugged the book to my chest. Is this story even about the beetle at all? Or is it about being open to the magic of the world and all the wonders within? Perhaps it is about learning to love, and how one simple act can open the door to a lifetime of joy.

Joyce’s first book, “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry,” was good, but I loved “Miss Benson’s Beetle” more. This is a sweet tale of how a friendship blossoms among two unlikely companions, and how it takes only one loyal person to change a life. I learned a lot about beetles as well, which is not a bad thing.

Joyce’s description of how a photograph inspired this novel is superb reading. Do not skip this section in the back of the book. It is almost as if the universe was telling her to write this story. 

I’m so glad she listened.

“Miss Benson’s Beetle”

By Rachel Joyce

Dial Press

352 pages

$18.00