The Crossed Keys Chronicle

The Fair Botanists

The Fair Botantists book cover

The Fair Botanists is a novel whose central plot revolves around a question that I think we’ve all had to answer at some point in our lives: exactly how many seeds does a mature Agave americana produce? While it might seem like I’m being glib, even though there are myriad characters and interlocking plot lines in this book, almost everything ties back to that question.

Our main protagonist is Elizabeth Rocheid, who has just moved to the city to live with her late husband’s aunt, Clementina, at a great house. It just so happens that the house is adjacent to the newly relocated Royal Botanic Gardens. Being in such close proximity to the gardens brings her into contact with many members of the book’s main cast, including a courtesan named Belle Brodie—whom she befriends without knowing her occupation or reputation—and the head gardener, William McNab. The latter is eager to employ her as a botanical illustrator—a skill she once practiced at Kew Gardens in London—due to the flowering of the garden’s prized possession: an Agave americana plant, otherwise known as the century plant, which is blooming for the first time.

The flowering of the plant also coincides with the city of Edinburgh being breathless with anticipation over an upcoming visit from the King. In advance of the royal visit, an envoy is sent to prepare the way, which includes one Johann von Streitz, who crosses paths with Elizabeth and eventually becomes a love interest.

As I mentioned in the opening, however, the number of seeds produced by the Agave americana is, in fact, the driving force behind most of the book’s plots. The head gardener has secretly promised some of the seeds to an unscrupulous seed merchant—an arrangement that, if he fails to fulfill, will plunge him into unrecoverable debt. The higher-ups at the Garden have promised the seeds will be sent back to London for cultivation, and finally, Belle Brodie has a plan to create an irresistible love potion using their scent. It’s a pretty important plant.

All of the characters’ various schemes and tribulations intersect in a multitude of entertaining ways—through blackmail, secret affairs, illicit perfume-making, seed stealing, and, eventually, love. While I think the ending wraps things up a little too neatly, it does at least give us a mostly happy ending and it’s hard to be too upset about that.

One additional detail that makes the book even more compelling is that many of the characters and places mentioned are historically accurate. King George IV did visit the city of Edinburgh in 1822 and many of the prominent side characters in the book did exist in real life. The fact that Sheridan can weave these details in seamlessly is a credit to her writing skills, it’s enough to make you almost forget how much of the story hinges on seeds.