A dual-timeline story of lost love, botanical discovery and a mysterious disappearance, following a London woman who becomes obsessed with the love letters of two botanists who traveled to Tibet in the early 20th century, by German bestselling author Corina Bomann.
DIE BOTANIKERIN
[The Botanis]
by Corina Bomann
Penguin Germany, May 2027
Photo credit: Nadja Klier
After Cleo was left at the altar by the love of her life, her days have been passing by without purpose. How on earth is she supposed to go on? Even her job at the historic London Lost and Found Office barely distracts her—until one day she opens an old suitcase and finds a Tibetan prayer flag along with some letters.
Out of curiosity, Cleo begins to read and is drawn into the story of Richard and Rosa—two botanists who traveled to Tibet at the beginning of the 20th century to research a rare species of rhododendron. Initially bitter rivals, their letters soon reveal a deep love. Until contact abruptly ceases.
Cleo can’t stop thinking about the love letters, and she wonders what dramatic end the relationship between Richard and Rosa met. She begins to research, delving into the history of the first female botanists, and has no idea that Richard and Rosa’s love will give her own life a new twist …
With sales totalling over two million copies, Corina Bomann‘s popular historical sagas are regular bestsellers, and her readers adore her strong women, passionate emotions and moving stories – such as her four-book Waldfriede saga set in a Berlin clinic, the two-part Rosenhag series set in Sweden, and now her new two-part Rosewell Castle series, which takes her readers into the fascinating world of butlerdom.
When Melanie’s fiancé has an accident and ends up in a coma, young Melanie fears for his life, and for their future. After weeks of desperation and paralysis, she seeks refuge and distraction on her 96-year-old great-grandmother Hanna’s estate. In the attic of the manor house, she discovers a Vietnamese fairy tale – and then Hanna tells her about her eventful past: how she grew up in Vietnam as the daughter of a wealthy family, and how she met her ‘jasmine sister’ Tanh, a girl born into poverty. As Melanie listens, fascinated, her great-grandmother regales her with tales of adventure among temples and rice fields, and the story of an extraordinary friendship between two girls separated by a fateful event. But Melanie finds solace not only in Hanna’s memories and unshakeable zest for life, but also in the company of widower Thomas, who looks after the manor’s gardens. And suddenly, she feels a little spark of hope stirring in her heart…
Karlskrona, Sweden, 1910. Liv feels constricted – and not just by the corset she puts on every day. Her loveless marriage to shipowner Sten Boregard, too, is stifling her. Her desire for freedom grows stronger when she meets Marlene, a sailor’s widow, who has been ostracised by the other sailors’ wives ever since her husband and his crew died on the high seas. But Marlene won’t let anyone bring her down, and Liv is impressed by her free spirit and energy. The pair become close friends, and when Liv unexpectedly inherits a rose-covered gamekeeper’s cottage in the woods, she and Marlene boldly decide to create a refuge where women can fulfil their true potential. They secretly breathe new life into ‘Rosenhag’ and its wildflower garden – but little do they know that not only their secret, but they themselves, are in grave danger…