Knave of Spades

When Alan left school at fifteen little was expected of him. An ‘O’ level in art is not the most obvious passport to success, but in the ancient greenhouses of the local nursery Mrs T’s little lad found his spiritual home, learning his trade and the strange ways of human nature. But the comfort and familiarity of his home in the Yorkshire Dales would soon be left behind as he journeyed south to college and then to Kew Gardens where he encountered rare plants collected by Captain Cook and a varie