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Latest Press
'Turf wars', Independent, 4 June 2010-06-04
Reviews
"This fresh and startlingly original take on Elizabethan power politics tells how the queen's two leading courtiers struggled to win royal favour . . . Trea Martyn makes a striking debut, because she uncovers a 'lost' history: how Elizabeth's two leading councillors, Lord Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and William Cecil, Lord Burghley, competed for her attention (and in Dudley's case for her love) by creating ever more lavish and exotic pleasure gardens . . . a delightful, absorbing read, a cornucopia of amazing new facts about the Virgin Queen" - John Guy, Sunday Times
"The heart of the book contains strong, precise description and thoughtful analysis. Martyn guides us with ease around the great gardens, explaining the ideas behind them, their planning and geometry, hydraulics and planting, alluding in passing to the works of Spenser and Sidney as well as Hill's Gardener's Labyrinth and Gerard's Herbal… she has also done some illuminating archival research, unearthing Cecil's planting lists from the manuscripts at Hatfield and finding previously unknown features of Theobalds . . . this spadework, and the author's visits to many Elizabethan houses and to the Renaissance gardens of Italy, enriches her elegantly produced book!" - Jenny Uglow, Sunday Telegraph
"Gardening-as-politicking is a seductive and original idea . . . Trea Martyn's descriptions of gardens . . . are excellent, and she carries her knowledge lightly. In evocative and lively prose she leads the reader along immaculately raked sand paths, past rosemary bushes (every needle covered with gold leaf), and into Cecil's mansion, where the columns of the great chamber were modelled as such realistic oak trees that birds flew indoors to sit on the branches" - Andrea Wulf, Guardian
"The story of how Elizabeth I's two courtiers Lord Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and Sir William Cecil (later, Lord Burghley) ruthlessly and grandly competed for her affections with their gardens . . . is thrillingly told . . . a fascinating account of the rivalry between these two ambitious men" - Janina Pogorzelski, The Lady
"Martyn's book is useful in highlighting the importance of the garden in the Elizabethan imagination. It's also timely, with plans afoot to trace the remains of the long-destroyed Theobalds, and a project to recreate Leicester's garden at Kenilworth now well under way . . . fantastical details of the gardens themselves - rosemary leaves covered in gold leaf to catch the light, visitors rowed through a shady labyrinth of canals - intrigue every inch of the way" - Sarah Gristwood, BBC History Magazine
"entrancing . . . a hugely enjoyable and readable book" - Sir Roy Strong, Literary Review
"it is absorbing . . . Martyn has used the paintings, poetry and masques of Elizabeth's reign to give us a glimpse of a new world''- Lucy Moore, Mail on Sunday
"If you ever want to get to grips with the drama of everyday Elizabethan court life, then Trea Martyn's passionate tale of the two gardeners in Elizabeth I's life, is the book to take outside with you this autumn'' - Amanda Blinkhorn, Ham and High
"a beguiling tale . . . both Kenilworth and Theobalds are undergoing restoration . . . Trea Martyn's delightful and imaginative book will make the perfect reading companion'' - RA Magazine
"entertaining . . . a handsomely produced book" - Jonathan Wright, The Tablet
'Elizabeth in the Garden' on Facebook:
"I'm really enjoying Elizabeth in the Garden. It's easy and engaging reading but full of historical detail. Obviously a well researched book."
"I was fortunate enough to find myself in possession of Elizabeth in the Garden. I opted for this one having recently rediscovered the world of the Tudor England through the Beeb's production and because I have always had an interest in history, specifically involving women.
The book was a pleasure to read - and, I should add, very aesthetically pleasing! It was an interesting blend of History but on a much more human level as the complex politics of Elizabeth I's court, combined with the politics of the heart, met, head-on, in the garden(s).
As I am not a book reviewer I lack the skills needed to truly provide a review for this book that will do it justice. Instead, all I can say is this: for someone whose knowledge of the period, the queen and her courtiers, and the history of gardening, is all woefully poor, this book managed to keep me entertained and educated (the latter almost unconsciously) without once feeling I was out of my depth nor did I once find myself bored."
"an illuminating and original view on a topic oft-overdone in literature and film"
"entertaining . . . easy to read . . . kept a good pace. I would recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in Tudor history"
Recommended in The Telegraph Christmas books and Sunday Times (best gardening gifts):
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Articles
"Point of Departure: Busy Lizzie", History Today, November '08: how urban living and a historical oasis inspired my interest in garden history, and in Elizabethan gardens in particular:
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"A green-fingered rivalry", Financial Times, 8 November '08:
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Radio
Woman's Hour, 23 October '08:
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