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In this enthralling, freestanding sequel to Earthly Joys, New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory combines a wealth of gardening knowledge with a haunting love story that spans two continents and two cultures, making Virgin Earth a tour de force of revolutionary politics and passionate characters.As England descends into civil war, John Tradescant the Younger, gardener to King Charles I, finds his loyalties in question, his status an ever-growing danger to his family. Fearing show more royal defeat and determined to avoid serving the rebels, John escapes to the royalist colony of Virginia, a land bursting with fertility that stirs his passion for botany. Only the native American peoples understand the forest, and John is drawn to their way of life just as they come into fatal conflict with the colonial settlers. Torn between his loyalty to his country and family and his love for a Powhatan girl who embodies the freedom he seeks, John has to find himself before he is prepared to choose his direction in the virgin land. show less
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This novel follows John Trandescant, the gardener to the king of England as he navigates personal tragedies and the period around the civil war and interregnum. At the beginning of the book, John is still reeling from the death of his wife. In an attempt to flee his grief, he travels to the Virginia colony to collect new and rare plants. While there, he meets a prepubescent native girl who helps him gather and collect plants. He becomes obsessed with her and before he sails home, he promises to marry her upon his return.
Back in England, John finds that his father has died in his absence. Now he is the sole owner and operator of an extensive collection of rare plants and other curiosities knows ask Trandescant's Ark. He also meets a show more matronly woman named Hester who had been caring for his aging father and his young children. It seems that his father intended him to marry this woman. John is annoyed by his father trying to control him even in death, but soon he realizes that he desperately needs Hester's help. They marry as a matter of convenience and their relationship is strained.
The times are troubled in England. The king and his wife are feuding with the parliament over matters of religion. Soon the nation is embroiled in a civil war and John is struggling to escape the service of a foolish king. He proposes moving house to Virginia. He professes love to his wife and asks her to come with him. Hester shocks him by rejecting this idea. It's too dangerous in the colony and she promised John's father to look after the rarities.
John leaves in a bitter rage, intending never to return. As he sails he imagines the little farm he will build and the beautiful native woman he hopes is waiting for him still. He clears some land but nearly dies of starvation. It's far harder to survive in this land alone than John ever imagined. When he is on the brink of death, he is saved by the local Powhatan village where he finds the woman Suckahanna, now grow, married, and caring for her own children. Against all odds, the natives take him into their village and teach him their ways. John survives, and even marries Suckahanna. But he is eventually exiled when he refuses to kill the English settlers.
He travels back to England where he is reunited with his wife and children. The land is still at war, and more trouble is on the horizon.
This book is odd. I often felt like the characters were not fully formed as they were just vantage points from which the movement of history could be observed. John especially was a difficult character to care about. His loyalties were constantly switching sides without rhyme or reason. His beliefs and impulses seemed to be chiefly driven by the dictates of the plot. I found his bigamous marry to a native girl young enough to be his daughter disgusting, especially when he abandoned his native family to death when the war went badly for them all. I couldn't understand why the Powhatan liked him. It seemed like everyone, especially women would just instantly like John for no reason. When he returned to England and did nothing but criticize all the work Hester had done, I lost all respect for him. He completely abandoned his family for years and never thought about them once. He intended never to return and only did because his other wife and family would no longer tolerate his bullshit. And then he had the audacity to complain about how his wife conducted business in his absence. But the narrative expects you to just continue on being sympathetic towards him.
The books ending was also odd. I felt like the author couldn't figure out how to wrap things up. She obviously wanted to hit a few more historical beats but the plot of the novel was essentially over. And then it just finished rather abruptly with John making an astonishingly bad financial decision that would pass on all his father's work to a mercenary friend. It was bizarre. show less
Back in England, John finds that his father has died in his absence. Now he is the sole owner and operator of an extensive collection of rare plants and other curiosities knows ask Trandescant's Ark. He also meets a show more matronly woman named Hester who had been caring for his aging father and his young children. It seems that his father intended him to marry this woman. John is annoyed by his father trying to control him even in death, but soon he realizes that he desperately needs Hester's help. They marry as a matter of convenience and their relationship is strained.
The times are troubled in England. The king and his wife are feuding with the parliament over matters of religion. Soon the nation is embroiled in a civil war and John is struggling to escape the service of a foolish king. He proposes moving house to Virginia. He professes love to his wife and asks her to come with him. Hester shocks him by rejecting this idea. It's too dangerous in the colony and she promised John's father to look after the rarities.
John leaves in a bitter rage, intending never to return. As he sails he imagines the little farm he will build and the beautiful native woman he hopes is waiting for him still. He clears some land but nearly dies of starvation. It's far harder to survive in this land alone than John ever imagined. When he is on the brink of death, he is saved by the local Powhatan village where he finds the woman Suckahanna, now grow, married, and caring for her own children. Against all odds, the natives take him into their village and teach him their ways. John survives, and even marries Suckahanna. But he is eventually exiled when he refuses to kill the English settlers.
He travels back to England where he is reunited with his wife and children. The land is still at war, and more trouble is on the horizon.
This book is odd. I often felt like the characters were not fully formed as they were just vantage points from which the movement of history could be observed. John especially was a difficult character to care about. His loyalties were constantly switching sides without rhyme or reason. His beliefs and impulses seemed to be chiefly driven by the dictates of the plot. I found his bigamous marry to a native girl young enough to be his daughter disgusting, especially when he abandoned his native family to death when the war went badly for them all. I couldn't understand why the Powhatan liked him. It seemed like everyone, especially women would just instantly like John for no reason. When he returned to England and did nothing but criticize all the work Hester had done, I lost all respect for him. He completely abandoned his family for years and never thought about them once. He intended never to return and only did because his other wife and family would no longer tolerate his bullshit. And then he had the audacity to complain about how his wife conducted business in his absence. But the narrative expects you to just continue on being sympathetic towards him.
The books ending was also odd. I felt like the author couldn't figure out how to wrap things up. She obviously wanted to hit a few more historical beats but the plot of the novel was essentially over. And then it just finished rather abruptly with John making an astonishingly bad financial decision that would pass on all his father's work to a mercenary friend. It was bizarre. show less
This sequel to Earthly Joys focuses on John Tradescant (the younger), gardener to the King of England during the tumultuous reign of Charles I. Desiring merely to garden rather than take sides between the king and parliament, he sails to Virginia to gather new and exotic plants for his collection. There, assisted by a young Powhatan girl, he finds himself drawn into this virgin land’s raw beauty. When the natives and the new English settlers go to war, John finds himself pressured once again to take sides in a conflict he wants nothing to do with, and must decide who he really is.
I greatly enjoy Gregory’s prose, and never fail to get sucked into the period – this book is no exception. Some of John’s relationships are show more unsatisfactory, and the ending is heartbreaking. I was inspired to learn more about Mr. Tradescant and his minor role in history. show less
I greatly enjoy Gregory’s prose, and never fail to get sucked into the period – this book is no exception. Some of John’s relationships are show more unsatisfactory, and the ending is heartbreaking. I was inspired to learn more about Mr. Tradescant and his minor role in history. show less
Another excellent book from Phillippa Gregory. Her writing never ceases to captivate me. Her characters are complex and the stories run deep.
Following Earthly Joys, this Historical account of England in the 17th Century has moved on to the son of the Royal Gardener, who, despite his desire to not become embroiled in the dangerous and violent happenings in England at the time, find himself just as caught up in the lives of the King and his advisers. Interesting and fun reading for history buffs, as well as gardeners as they follow John Tradescant the younger in England and then to America in his quest for rare and exotic flora to bring to the King's gardens. Very good reading.
John Tradescant was a Gardener to King Charles I. He also collected rare and unusual items to put on display at his home. When the King started a war with parliment, his loyalties were divided. John traveled to Jamestown, Virginia, his second wife and childen stayed in England to take care of his gardens and rarities. In Virginia, he collected new and unusual plants to sell back home in England. He tried to live in Jamestown, he bought land, and married an indian woman. Life became to hard, eventually he went back to England.
I learned a lot about all different kinds of plants and how they took care of them in 1638. They used glass domes over melon plants to protect them from the weather. They brushed snow off of new trees to keep the show more branches from freezing and breaking. Little tidbits like that made the story more interesting show less
I learned a lot about all different kinds of plants and how they took care of them in 1638. They used glass domes over melon plants to protect them from the weather. They brushed snow off of new trees to keep the show more branches from freezing and breaking. Little tidbits like that made the story more interesting show less
The Tradescant's family story interweaves with the demise of Charles I and the Cromwellian interlude. She is a very good writer of history and I'm looking forward to reading her next historical novel. I thought it was so good Ibought a copy for my mother-in-law and sent it to her.
I think this has been my favorite book by Gregory so far.
Just a fabulous read. I loved it. I just absolutely loved it. And the setting, and the history, the story, all woven together in such a fine way.
I was sad to see it end honestly.
I think Gregory is an amazing writing and the stories she creates just draw me into them.
Just a fabulous read. I loved it. I just absolutely loved it. And the setting, and the history, the story, all woven together in such a fine way.
I was sad to see it end honestly.
I think Gregory is an amazing writing and the stories she creates just draw me into them.
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128+ Works 86,141 Members
Philippa Gregory was born in Nairobi, Kenya on January 9, 1954. She received a B.A. in history at Sussex University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in 18th-century literature from the University of Edinburgh in 1984. She has taught at numerous universities and was made a fellow of Kingston University in 1994. Her historical novels include: Wideacre, The show more Queen's Fool, The Virgin's Lover, The Constant Princess, The Boleyn Inheritance, The Other Queen, The White Queen, The Red Queen, The Lady of the Rivers and The White Princess. She has also written several contemporary fiction works including Perfectly Correct, The Little House and Zelda's Cut. She adapted her novel A Respectable Trade, about the slave trade in England, into a four-part series for BBC television. Her script won an award from the Committee for Racial Equality. She won the Feminist Book Fortnight Award in 1990 and the Romantic Novelist of the Year Award in 2002. Her book, The Other Boleyn Girl, won the Parker Romantic Novel of the Year award and was adapted into a major feature film in 2008 starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. The White Queen was adapted into an original cable series on the Starz nertwork in 2013 starring Max Irons and Rebecca Ferguson. Her title The Kings Curse made the New York Times bestseller list in 2014. Her title, The Taming of the Queen, made the New York Times bestseller list in 2015. Her latest bestseller is Three Sisters, Three Queens. Gregory also writes children's books, is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines, a frequent broadcaster for radio and television, and runs a small charity that builds wells in schoolyards in Gambia. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Virgin Earth
- Original title
- Virgin Earth
- Original publication date
- 1996
- People/Characters
- John Tradescant the Younger; Hester Tradescant; Suckahanna
- Important places
- England, UK; Virginia, USA
- Dedication
- For Anthony
- First words
- He woke to the sound of the moving ship, the creaking of the timbers and the aching sigh of the full sails spread, the sudden abrupt rattle of a pulley as a sail was reefed in, the drumming of booted feet on the deck just abo... (show all)ve his face, the holler of an order, and the continual attack of the sea - the band of the waves against the prow and the groan of the tiny ship as she climbed up one wave and then wallowed and turned to confront another.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"I think the gardeners of England will remember you with gratitude one hundred, two hundred, even three hundred years from now, and every park in England will have one of our horse chestnut trees, and every garden one of our flowers."
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- Reviews
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- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 21
- ASINs
- 10
