The Discovery of Jeanne Baret

Maybe it is because I now have many wonderful followers of my blog or maybe it is because so many wonderful fellow bloggers leave wonderful comments on my blog posts...well, honestly, I don't know why, but for some reason I now receive many, many offers of free books to be reviewed. And now, unlike in the past, many, many of these many, many offers of free books are books that are fabulous. And unknown.

My favorite kinds of reads. Small, unknown treasures.

This book is one of those small, unknown treasures. It's nonfiction and it's the best kind of nonfiction, nonfiction that reads like fiction.

Let me tell you a little about the story. Jeanne Baret grew up in poverty in rural France in the mid-seventeen hundreds. She became very knowledgeable about herbs and plants. She came to the attention of renowned botanist Philibert Commerson and became his assistant, collecting plants and helping him classify and label them. Eventually she became his mistress. Commerson was asked to undertake a round-the-world trip to collect plants and Baret, disguised as a man in order to accompany him, went along.

The author has carefully researched this story and put clues together to create a complete picture of Baret's time aboard this ship. A fascinating and intriguing story.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me this great read.

I felt like I was seeing and experiencing the world through Jeanne Baret's eyes in this completely engaging narrative of the first woman to travel around the world at a time when women were not even supposed to be allowed on ships. This peasant herb woman, Jeanne, passed herself off as the male assistant to a French botanist tasked with identifying and collecting flora & fauna on a planned voyage of discovery and exploration around the world. This deception was necessary because naval rules and social/class etiquette forbade women on ships–not only because they were deemed unable to survive sea voyages, but also because they were bad luck.

I was fascinated by this book and finished it with a greater appreciation and awareness of what the history of sea exploration involved and the history of women in science as well as their exclusion. For me, a book is especially noteworthy if it makes me want to read more on the subject and follow more trails of curiosity that spring up. This story has created that need for me and I would suggest it to anyone with even the slightest interest in reading “history that reads like a novel”.

Note: The book was suggested through the excellent botanical art & education blog, ArtPlantae Today. ArtPlantae Today Blog