Book Notes | ‘Miss Benson’s Beetle’
Miss Marjory Benson hates her job teaching cookery to young girls in England in 1950, and one day she walks out of the school. Once she gets home, she formulates a plan. Her father was an entomologist and shared with her his interest in the myth of a golden beetle in New Caledonia. She’s going to find it!
Marjory knows nothing about New Caledonia, but plots her escape from England. She advertises for a French-speaking assistant, interviews candidates, plans her travel, and orders supplies for the beetle-finding expedition. Enid Pretty—who applied but wasn’t interviewed for the position and is Marjory’s total opposite—confronts Marjory at the train station and soon the two of them are off together on the expedition to New Caledonia via train, ship, and airplane.
Enid proves invaluable to the expedition, stealing equipment they need, including a Jeep, and endearing herself to the officials and local people. Marjorie and Enid establish their base camp in a ramshackle cabin near the top of the mountain and start collecting insects, ever looking for the elusive golden beetle. Unbeknownst to them, they are being stalked by the unstable and dangerous Mr. Mundic, who also applied for the expedition assistant position but was rejected.
Members of the UMRA Book Club had mixed reactions to the historical novel. Some felt much of it was unbelievable. Others felt one just had “to go with it” and not try to make sense of it. Some thought it was hilarious; others thought it was sad.
The overriding themes in the book were noted by the book group members: the friendship that grew between the two disparate women helped them forge on with their quest, people destroyed by war (Marjory’s four brothers were killed in WWII and Mr. Mundic suffered horrific PTSD), and appreciation of the natural world.
Do the two friends find the golden beetle? No spoiler here—you’ll have to read this quirky book to discover the answer.
— Stephanie Daily, UMRA Book Club I
Book Club announces May 19 and summer meeting plans
Fri, May 19, 2023, 2pm
UMRA member Stephanie Daily will lead a discussion of Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce, which debuted as a New York Times bestseller in 2020, when the UMRA Book Club meets at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 19.
Beth Bedell will lead a discussion of Flight Behavior, a 2012 novel by Barbara Kingsolver, on June 16. And Diane Madlon-Kay will lead a discussion of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, first published in 1940, when the group meets on July 21.
All three meetings will be held via Zoom. Email Pat Tollefson at [email protected] for more information, including suggestions for starting a new book club.
Upcoming Events
Wood Lake Nature Center is a peaceful 150-acre cattail marsh, woodland, and restored prairie that is a haven for migrating birds and waterfowl. This UMRA hike is a great opportunity for those who would like a shorter, easier hike. The trails are dirt, grass, and woodchip, with some bridges and a bit of paved trails. Only a couple small hills to navigate, the park is mostly flat.
University of Minnesota Regent Penny Wheeler, MD, will be the featured guest for the UMRA luncheon forum on May 20. In place of the usual speech format for our forums, Regent Wheeler will be interviewed by UMRA member and liaison to the Board of Regents John Finnegan, professor and dean emeritus of the U of M School of Public Health.
I, Claudius by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934, will be up for discussion when UMRA's Fourth Friday Book Club meets via Zoom on May 23.
June is the perfect time for an urban hike! Bev will lead a 4-mile hike from Lake Nokomis Community Center along Minnehaha Creek to Minnehaha Falls and back.
The UMRA Photo Club will meet at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in the meeting room of the Hennepin County St. Anthony Branch Library, in the small shopping center at New Brighton and St. Anthony Boulevards.
The theme is hats.
Join Michael for a 4-to-5-mile hike at one of the most popular parks in the West Metro, Richardson Nature Center in Bloomington. It is located at the north end of Hyland Lake Park Reserve at 8737 East Bush Lake Road in Bloomington.
The UMRA Book Club will discuss The Great River by Boyce Upton when it meets via Zoom on June 20.
Learn about writing memoirs, technology for seniors, campus architecture, and more at the fourth annual Age-Friendly University Day to be held in the McNamara Alumni Center on the Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis on Monday, June 23.
Catch up with friends and former colleagues, meet new UMRA members, enjoy delicious food, and participate in the third annual UMRA Summer Social Quiz at the Como Lakeside Pavilion in St. Paul on Wednesday, June 25.
The UMRA Hiking Club will hike two wonderful county parks in Monticello, MN on Monday, July 7. Lynn Anderson will lead the hikes and we will meet at her home at 9:30 a.m. and carpool from there.
Our July 14 "hike" is a kayaking adventure on Bde Maka Ska (formerly Lake Calhoun) and Lake of the Isles led by Barb Friedman and Bev Moe.
Join hike leader Nanette Hanks on August 4th for a “Trail in Two Cities” hike.