A bunch of sweet peas

In 1911, in the Scottish Border village of Sproutston, the young parish minister wrote to the "Daily Mail" for two entry forms, one for himself and one for his wife. The top prize was #1000, a small fortune in those days, and the organizers predicted that as many as 15,000 would enter. The minister could not foretell that the paper's estimate of the number of competitors would be more than doubled, or that a fortnight before the competition deadline, a nationwide drought would threaten the very existence of the sweet peas he was so painstakingly cultivating. This is a true story about real people. This edition is being published to tie-in with the "Daily Mail"'s revival of their competition to find the finest bunch of sweet peas in the country which is judged at the Hampton Court Flower Show in July. The book is available on audio cassette read by Dame Judi Dench.