In his gripping biographical novel, Green Gold, Gabriel Hemery unearths the extraordinary true story of forgotten Scottish plant hunter John Jeffrey.

During the Victorian era, the rare seeds and towering conifers of the Pacific Northwest were the ultimate British status symbols. Interweaving meticulous archival research with the imagined contents of Jeffrey’s lost journals, Hemery follows the explorer across 10,000 miles of treacherous terrain. Jeffrey’s journey was one of staggering endurance and high-stakes botanical adventure, from sleeping under “friendly pines” in sub-zero temperatures to navigating the violent unrest of the California Gold Rush.

Despite discovering hundreds of specimens—including the iconic Jeffrey Pine—Jeffrey was publicly dismissed by his frustrated employers before vanishing without a trace in 1854. Did he fall victim to bandits, the lure of the gold fields, or a desire to escape the rigid expectations of the Old World?

Step into the wild and discover the man behind the mystery.