Book review: Rachel Joyce’s, Miss Benson’s Beetle

In her most recent novel, Miss Benson’s Beetle, Rachel Joyce returns to her rare breed of protagonist. Trampled by life’s unfairnesses, unseen and unknown, until an unexpected and perhaps unwelcome moment of self-realisation sets them forth into the world, searching, under the guise of an unconventional adventure, for their lost selves. 

Margery Benson is the unsuspecting hero awaiting us within the pages of Joyce’s latest book. Just the wrong side of middle-aged, overweight, bumbling and lonely, Miss Benson - like so many women after the war - has resigned herself to a life of spinsterhood. Her days are spent teaching domestic science to haughty girls who incessantly ridicule her awkwardness, her evenings passed alone within the flat left to her by her spinster aunts. Life might have continued this way, if it weren’t for the golden beetle. 

Hoping to realise her childhood dream, Margery sells all she owns and prepares for the adventure of a lifetime. With her unlikely and at first unwanted assistant - the blonde-haired-orange-faced-pink-suited Enid Pretty - by her side, she sets off into the unknown, upon trains, boats, planes and her own blistered feet, to find the golden beetle. 

Of course, the dubious duo encounter much more than this elusive creature during their voyage, and ultimately what they find, between the seasickness, stray dogs, affronted officials, monsoons, mudslides and hair dye is themselves. Within this seemingly eccentric plot lies a pilgrimage, both psychological and physical, to the centre of the self. 

Though Margery Benson’s journey towards self-discovery lies at the centre of this book, it also delves into many other themes: suicide; grief; the devastating effects, both societal and spiritual, of the war; disability; loneliness; female friendship; love; and loyalty. The importance of acknowledging and following one’s dreams, no matter how bizarre or unattainable they may seem, lie at the centre of this book, symbolised through the hunt for a golden beetle – a quarry which symbolises purpose, hope, and the unlikelihood of life itself. 

This novel will appeal not only to those like myself long enamoured by Joyce’s unglamorous protagonists, but to anyone who feels alone, unsure, and ever so slightly unfulfilled. It could not have been published at a more pertinent moment. The societal pause inflicted by COVID-19 has forced many of us to confront ourselves, where and who we are, where and who we had hoped to be. Margery Benson reminds us that it is not - is never - too late. Dreams can be realised, and often it is the pursuit of them which yields the most unexpected, and glorious, results. Joyce reminds us to be both interested and interesting, every life is remarkable, every dream immense, in its own small way. Like Margery Benson, we must book our tickets, buy our beetle net, and set out into the world.