1408841894 
Hardback The signature of all things / Elizabeth Gilbert.
Publication year: 2013
Format: Hardback
Publisher: London : Bloomsbury,
Resource type: Physical
ISBN: 9781408841891 (hbk.) :
Notes:
Illustrations on lining papers.
5th January 1800. Alma Whittaker is born into a perfect Philadelphia winter. Her father, Henry Whittaker, is a bold and charismatic botanical explorer whose vast fortune belies his lowly beginnings as a vagrant in Sir Joseph Banks' Kew Gardens and as a deck hand on Captain Cook's HMS Resolution . Alma's mother, a strict woman from an esteemed Dutch family, is conversant in five living languages (and two dead ones). An independent girl with a thirst for knowledge, it is not long before Alma comes into her own within the world of botany. But as Alma's careful studies of moss take her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, the man she comes to love draws her in the opposite direction.
You cannot reserve this item unless you sign in
Other formats
Description:
501 pages : illustrations (black and white, and colour) ; 24 cm
Available at:
Extremely thought provoking book. Not an easy read, but worth the effort. Deals with everything, from plant collecting and evolution to American history and a purpose for life, in stately and beautiful English.
07/06/14