Title: Earthly Joys
Description: He is a traveller in a time of discovery, and the greatest gardening pioneer of his day. Yet John Tradescant is a man of humble birth, trusted by the kingdom’s greatest leaders: politicians, aristocrats, even royalty. Surrounded by luxury and intrigue, Tradescant gives all his attention to his magnificent gardens, in the midst of a society on the brink of upheaval.

Uniquely skilled at collecting, raising, and nurturing plants, his practical good sense makes him an invaluable servant as he scours the known world for new and beautiful species, and penetrates the most secret activities at court. Here both King Charles I and Tradescant are in thrall to the irresistible Duke of Buckingham , the most powerful man in England.

John Tradescant has always been faithful to his masters, but Buckingham is unlike anything he’s ever known: flamboyant, outrageously charming, utterly reckless. The court may love him but the people hate him. Every certainty upon which Tradescant has based his life is challenged as his personal world is turned upside down while all around him the country slides towards civil war.
Subjects: Biographical fiction, Fiction, Great Britain, Historical fiction, Gardeners, Landscape gardening, Naturalists, History, Landscape architects, Gardens, New York Times reviewed, Fiction, historical, general, Great britain, fiction
Places: Great Britain
People: John Tradescant (d. 1637?), Robert Cecil Salisbury Earl of (1563-1612)
Time periods: James I, 1603-1625