Discover: The Secrets of Dragonfly Lodge

This was the first book that I have read by Rachel Hore although she has a substantial backlist. I will, most likely, read some of her others now.

This is a dual time story that readers learn is partly based on the experiences of the author’s family. It is about Nancy and the many people around her, from before her university days and well beyond them, up to the present day. They include her family, fellow students and scientists, academic figures and, romantic interests.

In the present, a journalist named Stef is writing a book about women scientists. She finds that Nancy and others were, in fact, not given credit for their discoveries and achievements. She hopes to change this.

In addition to following Stef’s work and interviews with Nancy, readers spend time with her family and watch as her life intersects even more with Nancy, due to her involvement with her grandson.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book. The settings were beautifully described as was the weather and a storm. I do think that the novel dragged a tiny bit in delineating Nancy’s work with insects in such detail. This is not to say that the work that is described wasn’t important. It was indeed as readers will learn.

Those who enjoy women’s fiction, dual time line stories and immersion into academic life in the 1940s and beyond will want to give this title a look.