Gardener to the King (Hardcover)

In Gardener to the King, these royal vegetable plots share the limelight with the Sun King's head gardener--Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie. Unconcerned by the gory tales of battle, Jean-Baptiste worries instead about the ratios of clay, silica and chalk, the snow and frost gnawing at the earth, the slowness of snails. Whilst the King extends France's boundaries through war, Jean-Baptiste oversees the expansion of his gardens, with wall upon wall of fortress-like battlements and an army of labourers. But by helping the King destroy villages and cemeteries to make room for fountains and espaliered trees, Jean-Baptiste feels compromised--a lone conscience amongst those who keep the world at arm's length with "layers of powder, high heels, wigs, jellies and sauces."

Gardener to the King is a quiet story, relayed in an intricate, elegant style rich with allegory. There are heaps of gardening tips too, in case you're not sure when to apply manure or earth up your cucumbers and melons. These are worth noting--even today, Jean-Baptiste's kitchen garden produces strawberries in December and lettuces in January. --Jane Honey

Review
This charming little novel is about the Sun King Louis XIV's gardener at Versailles. The story begins in 1674 when the palace is being built, the rooms embellished and the gardens laid out. La Quintinie is happy to do his best to provide fruit and vegetables for his King and the thousands of guests celebrating the army's victories. He labours and experiments, builds greenhouses and irrigation systems, and to improve his yield he even studies meteorology and pharmacy. Like all gardeners he has his demons: intemperate weather, pests that wage war on his seedlings and the backbreaking work of moving soil and water. His love of growing things takes him into the surrounding countryside, where he spends long hours with the peasants, showing them how they might improve their crops and make their meagre lives a little more endurable. To him the contrast between their poverty and the frivolous luxury of Versailles is unacceptable, but those who voice any kind of protest are rare, and the secret police are all-powerful. Rumour and scandal preoccupy the courtiers and the gardener depends more and more upon his correspondence with a like-minded friend in Paris. When he loses his friend, he can no longer make sense of his world, and chooses to withdraw from it. This book is a little gem - no apology for the lettuce vocabulary - as much for Richaud's elegant and simple style as for his subtle and tender portrait of the gardener. Buy it for your own friends, not just those who garden; they will keep it by their bedside. (Kirkus UK)

See all Product Description

• Books > Fiction > By Period
• Books > Fiction > Genre > Historical
• Books > Fiction > Historical
• Books > Home & Garden > Gardening

• Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
• I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
• I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.