Elisabeth Luard is an award-winning writer on food and cookery, a journalist and a broadcaster. She has written two autobiographies with recipes, and published two novels. She regularly reviews books for the Daily Mail, the Scotsman, the Jewish Chronicle and the Literary Review.Allen Paterson was from 1973 to 1981 Curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden and from 1981 to 1993 Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Ontario. He is a member of the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society, and a Distinguished Advisor to the Board of Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He lives in Dumfriesshire in Scotland.