Miss Benson’s Beetle (£25.99), written by Rachel Joyce and read marvellously by Juliet Stevenson, is a warm-hearted roller coaster of a novel about friendship between two women. Marjory, a domestic science teacher in 1950s London, is unfulfilled in her work. She has only one passion: beetles.

When her life is rocked by crisis, she resolves on an expedition to the tropical island of New Caledonia in search of the beautiful golden beetle, taking with her an unsuitable assistant, Enid Pretty.

While Marjory is large, diffident and ­scholarly, Enid is nimble, uneducated and brassily blonde. Danger accompanies Enid’s every step: she miscarries on board, is detained in an Australian migrant camp and demonstrates an alarming disrespect for the law.

Together, nevertheless, the two succeed in tackling Marjory’s quest despite vicissitudes including a cyclone, police pursuit and sinister surveillance by an unhinged veteran of the war in the Far East. Joyce finds a way of making the partnership between the two genuinely convincing.