Hester stepped forward so she could lean her head on his shoulder, the warmth of her body was familiar and comforting. He put his arm around her and held her close. A little breeze went through the orchard and Tradescant’s trees; fifty-seven new plum trees, forty-nine new apple trees, forty-nine new pear trees, twenty-four new cherry trees moved their branches in a gentle dance. Before them the great branches of the chestnut avenue bobbed, their upwinging boughs carrying the hidden sweet spikes of their buds, their proud, broad trunks strong and still. In the orangery, safe in the warmth, were the rare and tender plants, the exotic, precious plants which the Tradescants, father and son, had brought from all over the world for the gardeners of England to love.

‘We will be forgotten,’ John whispered.

Hester leaned back and picked a sweet-scented winter-flowering jasmine bud, one of the first ever grown in England. The unfurling petals were cream in the yellow moonlight. The tears were hot on her cheeks, but her voice was confident.

‘Oh no, they will remember you,’ she said. ‘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.’

About the Author

Philippa Gregory is an internationally renowned author of historical novels. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature from the University of Edinburgh. Works that have been adapted for television include A Respectable Trade, The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen’s Fool. The Other Boleyn Girl is now a major film, starring Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana. Philippa Gregory lives in the North of England with her family.

Also by the Author

The Tudor Court Series

THE CONSTANT PRINCESS

THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL

THE BOLEYN INHERITANCE

THE QUEEN’S FOOL

THE VIRGIN’S LOVER

THE OTHER QUEEN

The Wideacre Trilogy

WIDEACRE

THE FAVOURED CHILD

MERIDON

Earthly Joys

EARTHLY JOYS

VIRGIN EARTH

The Cousins’ War

THE LADY OF THE RIVERS

THE WHITE QUEEN

THE RED QUEEN

THE KINGMAKER’S DAUGHTER

THE WHITE PRINCESS

Standalones

PERFECTLY CORRECT

ALICE HARTLEY’S HAPPINESS

A RESPECTABLE TRADE

THE WISE WOMAN

FALLEN SKIES

THE LITTLE HOUSE

ZELDA’S CUT

Short Stories

BREAD AND CHOCOLATE

About the Publisher