EARTHLY TOYS & VIRGIN EARTH by Philippa Gregory

EARTHLY JOYS:  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.

Uniquely skilled at collecting, raising and nurturing plants, his practical good sense makes him an invaluable servant, as he penetrates the most secret activities at court.  Here, both King Charles 1 and Tradescent are in thrall to the irresistable Duke of Buckingham.

Tradescant has always been faithful to his masters, but Buckingham is unlike any he's ever known.  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.

VIRGIN EARTH:  John Tradescant the Younger has inherited his father's unique collection of plants along with his unerring ability to nurture them.  But as gardener to Charles 1, he confronts an unbearable dilemma when England descends into civil war.  Fleeing from the chaos, John travels to the Royalist colony of Virginia in America, where his plant hunting brings him to live with the native people.

In the new world and the old, the established order is breaking down and every family has to find its own way of surviving.  For the Tradescants, through the upheavals of the Commonwealth and the Restoration, this means consolidating their reputation as the greatest gardeners of the country.

Soft cover, good condition.  The cover has some very minor creases.  Over 1000 pages.