Born in Edinburgh and educated at Trinity College Dublin, Sara Sheridan is most famous for her two series of historical novels: one, the Mirabelle Bevan novels, noir mysteries set in 1950s Brighton, and the other exploring on real lives of late Victorian adventurers. 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. Highly recommended. -- Fiona Valpy

Sprinkled with deliciously tantalising scandal and intrigue, and colourful, engaging characters. A sheer joy to readI absolutely loved The Fair Botanists. Set in 19th century Edinburgh when the New Town is being built, the city is preparing for a Royal visit from King George IV, and botanists are getting excited about the imminent flowering of the Agave Americana. This plant is known as the century plant and flowers only once every few decades. It's much sought after by many for varied reasons and many of the characters in this book have reason to want to get a hold of its valuable flowers and seeds.

Botanist and physician Robert Graham, the 6th Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, attempts to wangle an invite to the big royal soiree and makes some questionable life choices as the plot progresses. All these British ships going off to different places very often had a doctor who was also a botanist or zoologist. They would collect plants and seeds, then donate them to the herbariums."

Sheridan published Where Are The Women? in 2019, bringing together more than 1,200 stories of Scottish women from history whose achievements had been overlooked or forgotten. Some of that research carried into The Fair Botanists. It's the summer of 1822 and Edinburgh is abuzz with rumours of King George IV's impending visit. In botanical circles, however, a different kind of excitement has gripped the city. In the newly-installed Botanic Garden, the Agave Americana plant looks set to flower - an event that only occurs once every few decades.

Delightfully original, sensuous historical fiction, led by a charge of female characters as captivating and complex as the brightest of botanical flowers' Cari ThomasPerfume is a big part of my world so it was genuinely fun writing directly about that – though there are always smells in my novels, this time I got to the nub of the thing! Sumptuous and atmospheric. A beautifully described jaunt through Georgian Edinburgh, with romance and intrigue. -- Clare Whitfield It is quite cheeky and has a lot of detail in it," says Sheridan. "But she [editor Emma Herdman] really liked the narrative voice and that dry sense of humour. It is a little bit reminiscent of some female writers of that era, like Jane Austen or Mary Brunton."