Author:
Format: Quality Paperback
Publisher: Touchstone Books
Published: May 2005
Genre: Fiction - Historical - General
Retail Price: $19.99
Pages: 528
Whether he is nurturing a single rare seedling into a blossoming tree or planning acres of exquisitely conceived royal gardens, John Tradescant's fame and skill as a gardener are unsurpassed in seventeenth-century England. But it is Tradescant's clear-sighted honesty and loyalty that make him an invaluable servant, and in his role as informal confidant during garden strolls with Sir Robert Cecil, adviser to King James I, he witnesses the making of history, from the Gunpowder Plot to the accession of King Charles I and the growing animosity between Parliament and court.
Tradescant's talents soon come to the attention of the most powerful man in the country, the irresistible Duke of Buckingham, the lover of King Charles I. Tradescant has always been faithful to his masters, but Buckingham is unlike any he has ever known: flamboyant, outrageously charming, and utterly reckless. Every certainty upon which Tradescant has based his life -- his love of his wife and children, his passion for his work, his loyalty to his country -- is shattered as he follows Buckingham to court, to war, and to the forbidden territories of human love.
From the details of garden design and innovation to the politics of a growing revolution which was to kill a king and turn a world upside down, Philippa Gregory once again makes history come alive through the people whose passions shaped that world.
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I first discovered Gregory with The Other Boleyn Girl, which I thought to be a creative and engaging twist on a classic tale of Henry VIII.Then I moved onto The Wise Woman 4.5 stars and the Wideacre trilogy was great reading as well ***uming that most of the Gregory novels I have read turned out to be quite enjoyable, I thought with this book I would be turning down the same winding path of historical twist and insight. Oh alas dear reader, how I wish I had read some of the other reviews posted here before I lept into that pool of suspended disbelief!I emerged from this pool of literary slime is that too harsh?? with a profound new distaste for the author. It was stilted, rather boring, with terribly drawn characters and not enough of a plot to make you keep going....except that gnawing sensation of this has to get better soon, this is Philippa Gregory. Unfortunately, the novel does not improve. In fact, I too think that there should have been a warning... if it does not bore you to tears, the scenes of the 30 year old man and the 70 year old man having sex with each other might have you gag. Now granted, there are homosexual themes in many of her books but I have a hard time wanting to read on about the old man and his master - for whom he enjoys being treated like a dog...I am sorry that I read this, as it lowered my opinion of Ms. Gregory a bit. Dear reader, if you like Gregory, do yourself a favor and avoid this one!