Congratulations on the release of your new novel, The Botanist’s Daughter. It is simply amazing. For those who haven’t read it or heard of it yet how would you describe it?
Many thanks Jessica. It’s the story of the search, spanning more than a century, for a rare plant with dangerous powers – one woman is looking for it, the other doesn’t realise she has found it. The book is set in late 19th-century England and Chile and modern-day Sydney.
You’ve picked such an amazing topic to discuss within The Botanist’s Daughter. Did you have to do much research for it?
I did do quite a bit of research – gathering information from wherever I could find it. I was lucky to visit Kew Gardens twice during the course of writing the novel, where I came across the wonderful Marianne North Gallery, which showcases the work of this 19th-century botanical artist and world traveller. I also visited exhibitions of botanical art both in Sydney and London, as well as those detailing the exploits of plant hunters in years gone by. Of particular use was a diary written by a sea-captain’s widow who lived in Valparaiso in the 1950s – a little before my story is set, but her descriptions of the flora and fauna were invaluable.
I loved how we got two points of view throughout the book, one being Anna’s and the other being Elizabeth’s in the past. What convinced you to write the story like this?
I’ve always really enjoyed dual-timeline novels, where a mystery from the past is solved in the present, but with the two narratives sitting alongside each other, so that the story in each unfolds for the reader at the same time. I also love how history is made real by tangible objects that have existed for a long time, and still do in the present, that have a story to tell if we take the time to find it out.
You have written such amazingly strong female characters. Do you have a favourite and are any of them based on anyone?
Thank you – I wanted to have two strong female leads, who drive and shape the narrative. I wanted a contrast between them, and for the reader to believe they should almost have been born in each other’s century. They both have to show great courage, but of different kinds. Elizabeth’s is more obvious and bold, whereas Anna’s a quieter kind of courage but no less powerful. When I visited the Marianne North Gallery, I knew that such a strong, determined woman had achieved some – if not more – of the things that my character Elizabeth does, and when I read the sea captain’s widow’s diary, I was also struck by her immense courage. So both of those characters helped feed into my imagined ones. I confess I have a soft spot for Anna, who is quiet and reserved, and hiding great pain from her past.
Finally the question everyone wants to know. What is your favouritebook and who are your favourite authors?
I’m not sure I have a favourite book – there are too many to choose from. Some include: Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, Green Dolphin Country, Everyone Brave is Forgiven, All the Pretty Horses, Foal’s Bread and The Little Prince.
I do think favourite books stay with you as much for the time and the place and the person you were when you read them, as much for the quality of the book itself.
Favourite authors include Maggie O’Farrell, Sarah Winman, Jilly Cooper, Cormac McCarthy, Maria Semple, Celeste Ng, Gabrielle Levin and Vanessa Diffenbaugh. I also love poetry, particularly that from the First World War – Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke et al.
Favourite recent Australian reads include: The Geography of Friendship by Sally Piper, The Jade Lily by Kirsty Manning, and The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan.
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