The Signature of All Things - Botany Rules!

In The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert, our main protagonist is Alma Whittaker, the daughter of Henry, a botanical explorer who came from incredibly humble beginnings in London in the shadow of his own father, who worked at Kew Gardens. With guile, sheer determination and little light theft, Henry became rich and married a Dutch lady, Beatrix, whom he lived with in Philadelphia. Then we see Alma, their precocious child, growing up and becoming a botanist in her own right, despite it being the nineteenth century and not really "the done thing" for a woman. After being the centre of her parents' attention for so long, life changes when they adopt a local girl who is beautiful beyond words. This causes tension throughout the rest of her life. Foiled in love at a young age, Alma throws herself into her botanical research and discovers the joys of moss (yes, moss) and becomes a published author. Many years later, she persuades her father to employ a botanical illustrator to help document the plants he has collected, at which point she falls for this much younger man. They marry, but each party's idea of what a marriage should consist of differ hugely (Alma is desperate for passion and sexual gratification, but her husband is only interested in her mind). Her new husband is sent away to Tahiti to locate some particular plants for Henry, but dies shortly after, and all that is returned is a trunk containing a few illustrations of plants, but mostly, sketches of "The Boy" (which helped to explain a few things). After her own trip to Tahiti, Alma continues her work and starts to delve into the mysteries of evolution. This book is a bit of an epic journey and an insight into all things botanical during the nineteenth century. I found those elements the most interesting and satisfying. I liked Alma for the most part and it was heartbreaking when she thought that she had found love, but was disappointed yet again. There were good supporting characters, with the possible exception of a childhood friend who attached herself to Alma and her sister, then married Alma's first love out of the blue and finally ended up in an asylum. To me this felt bolted on and unrealistic, as did Alma's obsession with her own body and what she got up to with it in the privacy of the "bindery room". Again, this almost appeared out of nowhere and the scene was repeated, and repeated many times. Unnecessary, in my opinion and detracted from the story. I loved the narration by Juliet Stephenson (one of the main reasons for me picking this book in the first place), and, on the whole, an interesting read.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 592 print pages.

Price I paid: £2.98.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.