eBook
Published March 19, 2024
Mexican Gothic meets The Lie Tree by way of Oscar Wilde and Mary Shelley in this delightfully witty horror debut.
A captivating tale of two Victorian gentlemen hiding their relationship away in a botanical garden who embark on a Frankenstein-style experiment with unexpected consequences.
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 …
Mexican Gothic meets The Lie Tree by way of Oscar Wilde and Mary Shelley in this delightfully witty horror debut.
A captivating tale of two Victorian gentlemen hiding their relationship away in a botanical garden who embark on a Frankenstein-style experiment with unexpected consequences.
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?
Told with wit and warmth, this is an extraordinary tale of family, fungus and more than a dash of bloody revenge from an exciting new voice in queer horror.
I loved the plant and substrate talk. I also loved the parts that reminded me of the television show Bones. I wish there were more of those elements.
This mycelial Frankenstein-esque cosy horror focuses on two Victorian gentlemen hiding away their relationship in a vast rural greenhouse. Gregor is a botanist specialising in exotic plants and is determined to prove the value of fungal life to the Royal Horticultural Society. His partner, Simon, works in the basement on his taxidermy. When Gregor obtains a rare fungus from Sumatra demonstrating a unique ability for symbiosis with his plants, and a hint at intelligence, the two men strike upon an idea to give the fungus a unique substrate; a recently deceased human.
Alongside the two gentlemen is Jennifer; a housekeeper they have to bring in to keep things in order due to their rather neglectful (or simply AuDHD) chaos. When she chances upon the plant-human hybrid, named Chloe, she begins to grow closer to her as Chloe’s ‘fathers’ begin to have doubts as to their ability to control their experiment’s …
Overall Thoughts
A Botanical Daughter makes some pretty grand promises in its blurb, and I’m happy to say it largely lives up to them for me. A dark but often humorous tale in its absurdities, the writing and story do reflect the advertised feel of Wilde and Shelley. Gregor and Simon are odd characters but oddly endearing as well, and as the events become more unwieldy, so too do Gregor’s nerves and decisions. The conclusion was both unsettling and satisfying, though I do have some qualms about its details. I really enjoyed this read, and will certainly be looking for more by the author.
World / Setting
The story takes place in the countryside outside London, over the course of the year 1899. Gregor and Simon are understandably self-secluding, given the outlaw nature of their relationship at the time. The small country village nearest their estate contains a variety of …
Overall Thoughts
A Botanical Daughter makes some pretty grand promises in its blurb, and I’m happy to say it largely lives up to them for me. A dark but often humorous tale in its absurdities, the writing and story do reflect the advertised feel of Wilde and Shelley. Gregor and Simon are odd characters but oddly endearing as well, and as the events become more unwieldy, so too do Gregor’s nerves and decisions. The conclusion was both unsettling and satisfying, though I do have some qualms about its details. I really enjoyed this read, and will certainly be looking for more by the author.
World / Setting
The story takes place in the countryside outside London, over the course of the year 1899. Gregor and Simon are understandably self-secluding, given the outlaw nature of their relationship at the time. The small country village nearest their estate contains a variety of folk who are largely uninterested in the gentlemen aside from their ability to employ them. Aside from the horror and fantastical botany, this is simply an historical fiction story.
Characters
Gregor is a genius botanist who, as is required by his archetype, considers his pride before ethics. After a humiliation of a previous experiment, Gregor’s pride is a fragile thing, and he can be bitter and mean when challenged. He can also be quite manipulative of those around him, and uses this to his advantage often when things threaten to be out of his control. He is turbulent and inconstant and frustrating. In short, he is a fantastic Gothic character.
Simon is a talented taxidermist and, though he claims no great passion for it, uses the art form as an outlet for both his creativity and his struggles. He is largely passive and lets Gregor get away with far too much… until he doesn’t. He was endearing to follow and, while also slightly too willing to put Gregor’s ambition ahead of ethics, he at least considers the questions in the process.
Jennifer is a young woman from the village who ends up in the gentlemen’s employ, and joins their somewhat questionable found family. She is kind and naïve, but also willing to push back against Gregor and even defy him when she feels it's required.
Plot
The story centers around Gregor’s great experiment: a holobiont, e.g. a collection of plants that combine into a single sentient entity. The project begins when Gregor acquires a mycelium that has a sort of symbiotic relationship with an orchid, caring for it to some degree by controlling light and moisture around it. Gregor immediately, in classic mad scientist fashion, decides that he can nurture this into sentience and artificial life. As he becomes obsessed with this project, he ropes Simon and Jennifer into his plots and events unfold from there. This is a story with some horrific and dark turns, but the characters have humor and hope and kindness. I found it a fast and engaging read, with great writing and characters.
Recommended Audience
- Readers who enjoy a Gothic tale or horror stories in the Gothic tradition.
- Readers who don’t mind some disastrous characters who can be downright insufferable.
- Readers looking for more mycelial horror after What Moves the Dead and / or Mexican Gothic.
