A Botanical Daughter

Medlock’s stylish debut veers between a heartwarming story of queer love and a creeping gothic. Simon Rievaulx and Gregor Sandys live in a greenhouse far from the Victorian society that would judge them for their romantic relationship and unconventional careers: Simon’s a taxidermist and Gregor trades in exotic plants. Their situation is odd but stable until Gregor discovers a possibly sentient fungal sample. In his fervor to be recognized by the Royal Horticultural Society, he attempts to encourage the mycelium from sentience to true consciousness, even recruiting Simon’s skills to give the fungus a human form. As this plant woman, Chloe, develops, so do her personality and sometimes dark desires. Her burgeoning connection with the men’s housekeeper, Jennifer Finch, makes it apparent that the household’s new “daughter” is not the passive experiment she was imagined to be. Medlock approaches his occasionally sinister plot with heaps of wit and whimsy, though his devotion to tone can sometimes obscure character development. Still, this unusual, cottage-core horror novel is sure to find fans. Agent: Ren Balcombe, Janklow & Nesbit UK. (Mar.)