The Physic Garden

In 1802, young William Lang, a gardener working at the Old College of Glasgow University, finds himself falling in love with weaver’s daughter, Jenny Caddas. With a widowed mother and young siblings to support, William soon falls heir to his father’s coveted position as head gardener, and is delighted to discover a champion in botanist and lecturer Dr Thomas Brown, both of them men who love ’green and growing things.’

But just as the ancient medicinal or ’physic’ garden of the university is falling victim to the deadly industrial pollution of the early Industrial Revolution, so the blossoming friendship between these two young men from quite different social backgrounds will be blighted by human frailty and the demands of the society in which they find themselves.

’Our minds were so very much in tune. We were like two halves of the same fine fruit, ’ writes William, recalling his youth and his friendship with Thomas Brown . ’But it feels as though I have somehow missed my way. As though I have been a wanderer down all these years.’

From the author of The Curiosity Cabinet and the Posy Ring, The Physic Garden is an evocative and at times heartbreaking story of deep friendship, love, the ever-present threat of poverty and an unforgiveable betrayal.