Plot 29: A Memoir: LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD AND WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE

Plot 29: A Memoir: LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD AND WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE
Allan Jenkins

‘When I am disturbed, even angry, gardening has been a therapy. When I don't want to talk I turn to Plot 29, or to a wilder piece of land by a northern sea. There, among seeds and trees, my breathing slows; my heart rate too. My anxieties slip away.’As a young boy in 1960s Plymouth, Allan Jenkins and his brother, Christopher, were rescued from their care home and fostered by an elderly couple. There, the brothers started to grow flowers in their riverside cottage. They found a new life with their new mum and dad.As Allan grew older, his foster parents were never quite able to provide the family he and his brother needed, but the solace he found in tending a small London allotment echoed the childhood moments when he grew nasturtiums from seed.Over the course of a year, Allan digs deeper into his past, seeking to learn more about his absent parents. Examining the truths and untruths that he’d been told, he discovers the secrets to why the two boys were in care. What emerges is a vivid portrait of the violence and neglect that lay at the heart of his family.A beautifully written, haunting memoir, Plot 29 is a mystery story and meditation on nature and nurture. It’s also a celebration of the joy to be found in sharing food and flowers with people you love.

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Copyright (#ua04c3f7a-18ec-5f67-a576-61d3400920b9)

4th Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.4thEstate.co.uk (http://www.4thEstate.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2017

Copyright © Allan Jenkins 2017

Except Foreword copyright © Nigel Slater 2017

Allan Jenkins asserts the right to be identified as the author of this work

This book is based on the author’s experiences. Some names, identifying characteristics, dialogue and details have been changed, reconstructed or fictionalised.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008121952

Ebook Edition © March 2017 ISBN: 9780008121983

Version: 2018-03-09

Dedication (#ua04c3f7a-18ec-5f67-a576-61d3400920b9)

For Christopher

Contents

Cover (#uc3a79142-4ec7-5c9c-b492-90265c3a265d)

Title Page (#udd3a85cb-3f85-5b9e-9933-0178f8e654bb)

Copyright (#ubf659a7d-4f42-53c5-81f0-5741482ae759)

Dedication (#ua3e851c6-141c-5bc9-a0aa-f02d604bdee0)

Foreword (#u810b25f3-0e04-5d9c-805b-2011faa381b7)

Nature (#u4462dc3d-3176-518d-9a50-5fca60233e99)

Cast list (#uc59d855d-04da-53cb-9e8c-bed4a53c74bf)

June (#ufa5c6276-9b66-5e70-b076-1fed42f23951)

July (#uc018216d-5a46-5bbd-ae73-6d87ccb54e9c)

August (#u66ebc727-74c5-53a8-99be-161567270140)

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Postscript (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

Photographs (#litres_trial_promo)

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