An Almost Impossible Thing

by Fiona Davison

While working as Head of Libraries and Exhibitions at the Royal Horticultural Society, Fiona Davison came across a cache of letters from a young gardener who was denied a scholarship by the RHS on the grounds that she was female. Intrigued by what happened to young Olive, Fiona began to research the wider story of early female professional gardeners and discovered a group of pioneers who battled derision and prejudice to change forever expectations of what women gardeners could do.

Although gardens are often seen as a refuge, a place to escape from the troubles of the modern world, this book looks back to a period when British gardens were an arena for radical and far-reaching experiments. A time when the ability to cultivate land was mobilised by a group of convention-busting women who wanted to change the world.

An Almost Impossible Thing follows six hitherto little-known women gardeners in the years before the First World War, and examines their lives in the context of suffragism, collectivism and Empire.

Genres: Nonfiction, Gardening, Nature, History

293 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2023

Reviews

[Helen West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched compelling read. Opened my eyes to what it was like for women trying to enter the horticultural industry and the challenges they faced. I liked how it followed various women through their lives and also related to wider historical movements at the time in particular the connections between gardening and the suffragist and suffragettes movements.
One to recommend for friends interesting in gardening.

[Catherine Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another example of how women had to fight to be able to pursue their chosen career in horticulture. It’s unbelievable to this generation to read that men genuinely thought women couldn’t handle a spade in the garden.

[Karen Geney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptional history of an issue that never occurred to me--that women were not "allowed" to be gardeners. Extremely well researched and an interesting read--not just a bunch of facts (as the number of footnotes might suggest), but a thoroughly engaging book.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Jenny Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

really interesting

[Oskar]

A very well-researched and compelling, multifaceted story of the first professional women gardeners and their attempts to achieve recognition as serious horticulturalists, and through this trade gain some semblance of social and political independence, in the beginning of the 20th century, in Britain. Excellent!

[Louise Cashman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sourced this book after hearing the author interviewed on a podcast and I’ve really enjoyed it. As with other non-fiction titles, I’ve read it in tandem with my fiction reads to give balance. It’s not heavy going though and while well researched and factual is still a relaxed read helped in part by the author’s writing style and her concentration on some central characters that she returns to throughout the book. I’m fascinated by the period end 19th/early 20th century and how women were fighting to be recognised in all sort of areas of life and loving gardening too, it was an ideal read.