There are many other characters, both real and fictional, who play parts in this story centering around the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh (RBGE) and the environs of Georgian Edinburgh. Conversations are broken up by irrelevant, multi-paragraph sections detailing a character’s past that have little to no bearing on the conversation at hand, and are dropped into the story with all the grace of a falling anvil. The book’s central character is the fictional figure of Mrs Elizabeth Rocheid, a young widow and gifted botanical draughtswoman who arrives in Edinburgh from London early that year to take up residence at Inverleith House, with the elderly great-aunt of her late and unlamented husband, a bullying snob who made her life a misery. Reading this book feels like trying to eat tissue paper – bland, pointless, and ultimately forgettable.

Sara has been named one of the Saltire Society’s 365 most influential Scottish women, past and present. They've both faced adversity in their lives, yet they are able to use their circumstances to the best of their ability, and to overcome the difficult situations they've found themselves in. Both Belle and Elizabeth are able to make big changes in their lives, and I loved that the ending of the story depicted their fresh starts. While recording the flower she meets Belle Brodie, a young single woman who has a passion for botany and perfume making, who realised at an early age that she had the gift of luring men by using the enchantment of scent and has turned her passion into a lucrative business.Most of them have common interests but are all incredibly unique in their own ways with wonderful personalities which enable connections to be made – some more intimate than others!

Using the knowledge she possesses that others would not want made public, she determinedly pursues her aim of developing a scent that she hopes many will pay a fortune to possess. This emotion was ignited by our fantastic free walking tour guide Rory (if you happen to be in Edinburgh, do book a free walking tour with City Explorers) who managed to introduce us to Scotland's and Edinburgh's rich history and the mentality of their people within two hours while also being entertaining, funny and at the same time mindful of the not-so-shiny-parts such as involvement in the slave trade, Highland Clearances or neglected female history. This really added to the feel of the story and made me feel much more immersed and absorbed while reading.While the author’s note makes it clear that the story was designed to be ‘light-hearted… but catch[ing] the spirit of the city at this fascinating time in history’, the end result of this overabundance of lightness is a plot so thin and pale that it vanishes the moment you blink. Unfortunately it doesn't produce many seeds, yet everyone seems to want a piece of the plant for their own. It’s the wonderful story of two women and the connections they make in Edinburgh in the early 1800s.

Although I enjoyed the book and appreciated the atmosphere of anticipation it never completely hooked me, despite my interest in the central protagonists of Elizabeth and Belle, because I only ever felt superficially involved with their dilemmas.

The present day might have rubbed off the edges and introduced more modern landmarks but this is an Edinburgh stuck in time. Sheridan’s habit of over-describing, which comes through clearly in this line, is omnipresent throughout the book as well. The Fair Botanists is set around the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens’ move from Leith Walk to the new larger location at Inverleith in 1822.