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.