Miranda Seymour
Herbal History
A Little History of British Gardening
By Jenny Uglow
Chatto & Windus 342pp £15.99
Tales of the Rose Tree: Ravishing Rhododendrons and Their Travels Around the World
By Jane Brown
HarperCollins 308pp £20
One of the stars of Jenny Uglow's previous book, The Lunar Men, was Charles Darwin's grandfather Erasmus, author of a remarkably fanciful and elaborate scientific poem, 'The Botanic Garden', and of a hefty tome on the science of gardening and agriculture. Dr Danvin was also a keen promoter of hothouses: his own was eighty-two feet long and provided him with melons, cucumbers and grapes, but not, he reluctantly admitted, pineapples.
Uglow's affection for Darwin shone through her book. I'd like to think that it was he who inspired her to write this cheerful conversational romp across the centuries - from the zealous, businesslike Romans to allotment plots and the desolate, stricken elegance of Derek Jarman's pebble gardenscape at Dungeness. The
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
When @djbduncan notices the text for a literary jigsaw puzzle had been written by a former colleague, his head spins. A wild surmise. Are jigsaws REF-able?
Dennis Duncan - The W Factor
Dennis Duncan: The W Factor
literaryreview.co.uk
In an effort to scold drinkers, Victorian temperance societies furiously marked every drinking establishment with a red X on city maps. It was a spectacular case of propaganda backfiring.
@foxtosser explores the history of drink maps
Edward Brooke-Hitching - From Beer Street to Gin Lane
Edward Brooke-Hitching: From Beer Street to Gin Lane - Drink Maps in Victorian Britain by Kris Butler
literaryreview.co.uk
How did a workers’ insurance agent who died of tuberculosis at the age of forty become a global literary icon?
@MortenHoiJensen on Kafka's metamorphosis
Morten Høi Jensen - Paranoid Humanoid
Morten Høi Jensen: Paranoid Humanoid - Metamorphoses: In Search of Franz Kafka by Karolina Watroba; Kafka: Making o...
literaryreview.co.uk