Miss Benson's Beetle and Spam!

 Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce.  I saw this book mentioned on a few sites and the author wrote The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry which I really liked,  so I picked this up. 

I really liked this one though I will admit I thought it started a little slow.  Miss Margery  Benson is a middle aged unmarried teacher who pretty much has a breakdown one day at school and walks away from all of it.  It's the 1950's and an unmarried woman doesn't have a ton of choices at this point.  But she decides to follow a dream from childhood and go in search of an elusive beetle in New Caledonia.  To make this happens, she needs an assistant and ends up with the exact wrong person , Enid Pretty. 

Once they get on their journey, I loved it.  There is some tragic things in both of their lives and they don't immediately bond.  What I loved is that they both come to appreciate the other one.  Margery experiences kindness she has never experienced and Enid experiences friendship that she has never experienced.   There are some super funny scenes but also a few that will rip your heart out.  

New Caledonia.  about 750 miles from Australia

There is this side story that I didn't love with this man who is tracking them because he didn't get the assistent job.  Didn't love that character .   Without spoiling anything, I'll say it didn't end like I wanted but l loved the author notes at the end including the interview she does with the main characters.  Almost made me forgive the ending.   

Overall, I highly recommend this book about friendship, taking a chance and finding love in unlikely people.   ⭐⭐⭐⭐

When they are out in the jungles of New Caledonia, they eat a lot of Spam.  Now, I have been trying not to eat any pork products but i LOVE Spam.  So, I made an exception and fixed up some Spam.  My favorite way to eat it is to fry it with potatoes.  Today i cut it up and put it on a cookie sheet with some fresh pineapple.  I covered it with teriyaki sauce, crushed garlic and added a chopped up onion.   I baked it in the oven at 350 for about 25 minutes, tossing it several times.  I put it over rice and had a delicious dinner.  I like for spam to get super fried on top which didn't happen in the oven .  So, the next day, i put the leftovers in a pan and fried them up.  It was great.  I think next time i might just do the whole thing on the stove.  

Enjoy and keep reading.