This is Philippa Gregorys usual well written story of English royalty and the politics, intrigue, deception and corruption of 17th century England. King James is newly crowned the King of England and he has surrounded himself with loyal trusted advisors such as Cecil Roberts and the Duke of Buckingham. The story is told from the point of view of John Tradescant, the gardener for these men. Johns skill as a gardener catches the attention of the powerful men of England who want to create a showcase garden in their palaces to show off their wealth to the royal court.
Although this book has a lot of details of plants, I enjoyed all the descriptions and especially of the travels to procure plants rare to England. This is not simply a book about the gardens of England, but the character development of John and his son John show how the attitudes of the English common people are changing towards their royalty and their quest for freedom and the ability to possess their own private land. What is happening in America at this time is having an impact on the English populace and they are starting to get dissatisfied with the extravagance of the English royalty while the country is suffering from bad harvests and the plague. Although I enjoyed this book, this is not my favorite book by this author. There were some places where she went into too much of the same detail and the book dragged in a few places.
Although this book has a lot of details of plants, I enjoyed all the descriptions and especially of the travels to procure plants rare to England. This is not simply a book about the gardens of England, but the character development of John and his son John show how the attitudes of the English common people are changing towards their royalty and their quest for freedom and the ability to possess their own private land. What is happening in America at this time is having an impact on the English populace and they are starting to get dissatisfied with the extravagance of the English royalty while the country is suffering from bad harvests and the plague. Although I enjoyed this book, this is not my favorite book by this author. There were some places where she went into too much of the same detail and the book dragged in a few places.
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