'It is an unusual thing, to live in a botanical garden. But Simon and Gregor are an unusual pair of gentlemen. Hidden away in their glass sanctuary from the disapproving tattle of Victorian London, they are free to follow their own interests without interference. For Simon, this means long hours in the dark basement workshop, working his taxidermical art. Gregor's business is exotic plants – lucrative, but harmless enough. Until his latest acquisition, a strange fungus which shows signs of intellect beyond any plant he's seen, inspires him to attempt a masterwork: true intelligent life from plant matter.
'Driven by the glory he'll earn from the Royal Horticultural Society for such an achievement, Gregor ignores the flaws in his plan: that intelligence cannot be controlled; that plants cannot be reasoned with; and that the only way his plant-beast will flourish is if he uses a recently deceased corpse for the substrate.
'The experiment – or Chloe, as she is named – outstrips even Gregor's expectations, entangling their strange household. But as Gregor's experiment flourishes, he wilts under the cost of keeping it hidden from jealous eyes. The mycelium grows apace in this sultry greenhouse. But who is cultivating whom?'
There are certain stories that have resonated so well with readers that they're guaranteed to stick around forever, being retold, or re-imagined in so many ways that people can be deeply familiar with the story without ever having read the original. Frankenstein is one of these stories. The birth of science fiction, the original story was written hundreds of years ago, and whilst most people have never read it, will know the name, and will instantly conjure images in their minds of the patchwork 'monster' the titular doctor created. And Frankenstein serves as the inspiration point for the new novel A Botanical Daughter, but doesn't hold the story slave to the original text, with author Noah Medlock having created something truly unique and magical.
The story centres on taxidermist Simon Rievaulx and botanist Gregor Sandys, two Victorian gentleman husbands who live together in a botanical garden on the edge of town, caring for the plants within and keeping away from the bigoted and judgemental eyes of those around them. They're free to explore their love for each other in their own little garden of Eden. However, there's something missing from their lives. They want another person with them, a child of sorts. Coming together, the two of them use their talents for gardening and experimentation to craft a living being made of body parts, plants, and fungus.
There have been a lot of stories that have drawn upon the central theme of Frankenstein, of the creation of a new being from pieces of bodies. Some of these will even use some form of technology in the process too, and there have been more than a fair few versions of the creature that have been cybernetic in nature; but I don't think I've ever seen a version done like this, one that incorporated flora and fungi in order to bind the various parts used and to breathe life into the creature. It adds a unique and creepy flavour to A Botanical Daughter that makes the book stand out immediately. It also creates a character, Chloe, who I'd love to see depicted in a visual medium. The descriptions for the character created a vivid image in my mind, but I'd love to see her brought to life in another form, where I could see her moving and interacting with the world with her unique biology.
As with most stories like this, however, things are not always easy when creating new life, and there are a number of troubles that the characters go through over the course of the book; mainly interpersonal ones. It was nice to see Medlock explore the shifting relationships between the characters as the story progressed, focusing on how people change over the course of the book. However, there were times where I was hoping for more of this, and wanted the book to go into greater detail. But, the fact that the book did spend some time on this where other stories would not makes it even better than I was hoping for.
A Botanical Daughter manages to intertwine together beauty and horror in its narrative, much in the same way Chloe's fathers manage to do so when creating her. The prose has some wonderfully descriptive, beautiful moments, and some parts that get under you skin and chill you. If you were to ask me what I'd want to see in a Frankenstein inspired story I'd never have thought about queer love stories, plant human hybrids, or the Victorian era, but it turns out that these were all things I really wanted, and for A Botanical Daughter showed me what I'd been missing out on.
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