Tradescant Books in Order

The Tradescant novels follow John Tradescant the Elder and his son John through the first half of the 17th century, when England is shifting from the last years of Elizabeth I into the turmoil of the Stuart kings. They are richly detailed stories about gardens, travel and loyalty, set against gunpowder plots, court favourites and the slide toward civil war.

Earthly Joys centres on John Tradescant the Elder, a self taught plantsman whose talents carry him from modest beginnings to the households of powerful men. As gardener and informal companion to figures such as Robert Cecil, King James I and George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, he witnesses statecraft at close hand, from the Gunpowder Plot to the first signs of conflict between king and Parliament. His passion for collecting plants sends him across Europe, even as his private life is pulled and tested by the demands of his patrons.

Virgin Earth turns to John Tradescant the Younger, who inherits both his father’s gift for gardening and his connections to the royal court. As gardener to Charles I he must negotiate divided loyalties when the country edges into war. Seeking escape, new plants and a different kind of life, he travels to the English colony in Virginia. There he lives among the Powhatan people, marries within the community and sees first hand how colonial ambition threatens indigenous land and culture.

Together the two books show the same upheavals that often appear in school history – the rise of Buckingham, the struggle between king and Parliament, the push into the Americas – but from the point of view of craftsmen and families whose work happens in gardens, kitchens and shipyards. They are good choices if you enjoy historical fiction rooted in real people whose lives touch big events without being defined only by them.