It is hard to imagine that Jane Brown's excellent and hugely
knowledgeable book could be bettered. This is gardening history
presented with a broad sweep yet in the most meticulous and
fascinating detail. Her look at the world of growing and digging
and philosophizing starts with the sound of the hoe and ends by
reminding us that gardens are made of earth and are important
because it is the only Earth we have. In between she presents a
vast international panorama of gardens and deals with our
pretensions and prejudices, yet she never neglects the small human
scale and homely details that make the book so charming and
memorable. As one would expect from an author who is as much a
biographer as a historian, she deals with the different groups of
people who have pursued their own version of paradise at different
times. Canons and reverends abound in one chapter; women shuffle
down the medieval corridors of history in another; while the Mogul
garden (or chahar bagh) is populated by members of a harem, smoking
opium and dabbing henna between a favourite's thighs to cool
premature ardour. Homosexuals are a star turn, like William Kent
and Horace Walpole, only recently outed. The toilers in the garden
such as the vegetable growers and molecatchers are anonymous, but
among the designers, big names feature. Brown, Repton and Gertrude
Jekyll of course, but also the neglected J C Loudon, the sad
heiress Ellen Willmott, and more recently, Sylvia Crowe and John
Brooks. It is, however, the gardens that are the real heroes of the
book. The glorious arboreta in the valleys of Central Mexico; the
groomed landscapes; the military gardens whose legacy lives on in
the straight lines of little allotments; the small post-war plots
which emerged during the era of the Dunroamins; and the gardens of
the future. As Brown points out, gardens are about the tension
between order and chaos. Often funny and sometimes profound in the
way she handles this, she is the most and energetic of companions
and has given a treat to all gardeners who pursue their own Eden.
Review by DIANA SAVILLE Editor's note: Diana Saville is the author
of Capability's Eden. (Kirkus UK)
This book will provide a new perspective on the way we garden, why
we garden and what it means for us. Full of fascinating characters
and vignettes - from ancient Greeks to suffragettes, from eccentric
military men to Catholics in hiding from persecution - The Pursuit
of Paradise looks into how society's changes have altered our views
of gardening, who does it, and how we do it. What drives people to
risk their lives in search of a rare Himalayan flower? Why are so
many gardeners homosexual? How did gardening become a respectable
career for women? When did looking at other people's gardens become
a national British pastime? Using particular gardens to lead into
themes like power, refuge, female emancipation, distribution of
wealth and fashion, Jane Brown presents a history of the nation
through its most popular national pursuit. It will be essential
reading for the horticulturally impassioned for years to come.
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