Synopsis:
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.
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 his 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.
Review:
A Special thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for my copies of this novel!
‘The mind emerges from the intricacies of the brain… So too may it arise from the intricacies of the forest’
I am always wary when it comes to comparing books, in fear of making false equivalencies, but the similarities between ‘A Botanical Daughter’ and ‘Frankenstein’ are too stark, and too intentional not to mention. Chloe, the botanical daughter, an amalgamation of fungi, roots and plants, is a creation that disrupts the boundaries that govern life and death, in the name of science and discovery. Gregor and Simon, like Victor Frankenstein, tussle with the responsibility they have over a creation that far exceeds their expectations, permanently altering the lives of both themselves and the people around them.
Gregor and Simon’s individual relationships with Chloe constantly shift and evolve as she evolves to become more sentient and more human. As two men in a relationship in Victorian London, the one thing neither ever expected to gain in their relationship was a child, a family. It was fascinating to watch them both grapple with paternal feelings that felt so far out of the realms of possibility to them. The plant girl may be unfathomable but so too is what she represents to them both. Chloe disrupts not just the law and order of life and death, but of the societal norms of the time. Both struggle with the burden of responsibility in their new family dynamic, both to their relationship, and to the ever-burgeoning Chloe. This was difficult to follow at points. It felt like Gregor in particular was constantly shifting in his opinions of Chloe, at some points considering her a daughter and at others simply scientific stimulus turned monster. Although slightly off-putting, I did feel like this fit in with Gregor as a character, who is very much a control-freak. As Chloe grows and prospers out of Gregor’s manipulation, Gregor perceives her as less of a daughter and more of a monster, while she becomes less of a monster and more of a human to the reader.
The highlight of the novel for me was whenever Noah Medlock would describe Chloe. Medlock’s knowledge and understanding of botany flourishes through Chloe, breathing figurative life into the botanical daughter. Chloe feels uncanny, in equal parts aesthetically beautiful and unusually disturbing, taking on the human form while existing wholly of nature. Chloe is a unique figure within any literature that I have read. In many ways she is a new take on the zombie, or of a possession narrative, with Chloe simply being a body hosted by invasive sources. Simply put, Chloe blurs definitions, making you question what it means to be human and what qualities are inherently that.
Indeed, ‘A Botanical Daughter’ considers what it means to love someone or something in spite of societal perceptions of right and wrong, human and monstrous. Love transcends matters of body and exists on more of a spiritual level where some people, some souls, are simply meant to be together. It is a whimsical tale splattered with just enough blood and guts to keep the reader grounded and the tension high, and if this is only Noah Medlock’s debut novel, I cannot wait to see what he comes up with next.
Find ‘A Botanical Daughter’ in your local bookstore from the 19th March!
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