The Thorn of the Honey Locust: The Chronicle of an Eighteenth-century Musician

A garden historian and a musicologist stumble on a long-forgotten manuscript containing information relevant to their two disciplines. The chronicle of Johann Caspar Gleditsch, a musician who worked closely with Johann Sebastian Bach, reveals a life rich in adventure, court intrigue, family dramas, and secrets hidden behind the manicured hedges of Leipzig's gardens. As they grapple with the chronicle's contents, and its personal account of the music in the time of Bach, Mark and Jeremy confront the growing attraction they feel towards each other.

Geoffrey Burgess spins a tale of the mundane and the extraordinary in Germany at the dawn of the Age of Reason. Based on extensive research, The Thorn of the Honey Locust is shot through with intriguing glimpses of scientific experiments, botanical discoveries, and the musical practices of the time. It is the story of how the thorns of an American tree came to symbolize the unsettling antagonisms between father and son.