Even beyond the style struggles, the prose problems, and the tense troubles, the story itself is utterly, entirely unforgettable, with as much hold on the reader as a gentle breeze.

In the newly-installed Botanic Garden, the Agave Americana plant looks set to flower – an event that only occurs once every few decades.Very interesting in terms of the history of the Botanic gardens and most interesting for readers who know or who have visited Edinburgh. For this novel it was directed at Edinburgh – the city where I’ve lived for years – and exploring what the capital was like two hundred years ago. We follow two women: one a courtesan and amateur perfume maker and one a botanical artist and lady's companion. She has sat on the committee for the Society of Authors in Scotland (where she lives) and on the board of '26' the campaign for the importance of words. Not to mention that these POV swaps often happen multiple times within the same scene, pinging back and forth between characters as though the POV is a bar of soap in a shared bath that everyone is trying to take hold of, further muddying the metaphorical waters.

Edinburgh was a Hanoverian city but the spectre of Culloden and the Stuarts was still alive if only faintly, and 1822 is the year George IV visited the city. I loved this vivid evocation of Enlightenment Edinburgh - a city in the throes of tumultuous change - filled with a cast of fascinating characters, both real and imagined. if a market gardener were to be consulted, it was a woman, if a song were sung, it was written by a woman.

I loved watching these characters blossom, as the flowering or a rare plant has repercussions for them all.

Sara Sheridan has created a captivating, utterly convincing world and a wonderfully heartwarming story. I never thought I would get so excited about a flower, but this is a serious and fascinating time and it completely enchanted me! Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, this pacey historical fiction brings together a number of characters all with one thing in common – their love of, or interest in, botany. I visited myself a few years ago, and before visiting I had not known that there was a dormant volcano in Edinburgh that people regularly climb. Good historical fiction allows you to make that connection on a visceral level – it’s a time machine.As the story progressed I found myself being drawn more and more into the story of the characters, they are, as I mentioned a wonderful. I liked the representation and the author's overall attention to the characters in the story as she made sure even the side characters had their own intetions, desires and developments, which made the ensemble and the story itself feel realistic but modern at the same time. Established in 2009, Tippermuir seeks to add to the cultural life of Scotland by publishing interesting and worthy books in English and Scots. In that there are echoes that reverberate today into the way women are treated by our culture in the process of rape cases.