The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon

by Robert Whitaker

A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon

The year is 1735. A decade-long expedition to South America is launched by a team of French scientists racing to measure the circumference of the earth and to reveal the mysteries of a little-known continent to a world hungry for discovery and knowledge. From this extraordinary journey arose an unlikely love between one scientist and a beautiful Peruvian noblewoman. Victims of a tangled web of international politics, Jean Godin and Isabel Gramesón’s destiny would ultimately unfold in the Amazon’s unforgiving jungles, and it would be Isabel’s quest to reunite with Jean after a calamitous twenty-year separation that would capture the imagination of all of eighteenth-century Europe. A remarkable testament to human endurance, female resourcefulness, and enduring love, Isabel Gramesón’s survival remains unprecedented in the annals of Amazon exploration.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Travel, Biography, Science, Adventure, Book Club

353 pages, Paperback

First published April 13, 2004

About the author

There is more than one author in the Goodreads catalog with this name. This entry is for Robert {2^} Whitaker, medical and science writer.

Robert Whitaker, a journalist, writes primarily about medicine and science. He is the author of four books: Mad in America, The Mapmaker's Wife, On the Laps of Gods and Anatomy of an Epidemic.

His newspaper and magazine articles on the mentally ill and the pharmaceutical industry have garnered several national awards, including a George Polk Award for medical writing and a National Association of Science Writers Award for best magazine article.

A series he cowrote for the Boston Globe on the abuse of mental patients in research settings was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.

Reviews

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon, but not to everyone. The title and the book description may give the impression that the central theme of the book is a love story. That is false. Part of the book is certainly a wonderful adventure story about a woman who travels practically alone through the Amazon basin to reach her husband stranded in French Guiana, but this portion of the boo takes up only the last seventy pages. The love story and the adventurous trip from Rioabamba (near Quito, Ecuador) down the eastern slopes of the Andes, through the tropical rain forests of the Amazon along the river to its mouth and then to Cayenne, French Guiana is not the central theme of the book. That is important to understand when you choose to read or not read this book. This portion is exciting, and it does put a wonderful end to the book.

What primarily is this book about? It is about a scientific and exploratory expedition carried out in the 1730s and 40s by the French. It is about the Spanish conquest of South America, conquistadors, Hernando Cortés and Francisco Pizarro. It is about the conquest of the Aztecs and the Incas. It is about the plants and animals and minerals and gems found around Quito and the upper stretches of the Amazon. In the pages of this book you will find a lot of history and information about both Spanish and native South American beliefs and practices. You are sure to be fascinated by the description of indigenous plants and animals.

It is important to note that the expedition took place during the Enlightenment. Although the expedition’s primary goal was to measure the distance of one degree of latitude, many other scientific areas were also to be studied, all in the spirit of the era. New scientific instruments were to be tested, to discover the shape of the earth, to discover more precise knowledge of the laws of gravity. Temperature's effect on metals was to be quantified. Botanical varieties were to be documented, in the hope of finding new products and medicines.

The expedition was also to spy. The French wanted to discover what the Spanish had hidden in its Viceroyalty of Peru, as Spain’s territory in South America was called. (Don’t think just Peru. The area extended over a huge chunk of South America up to the Caribbean coastline.) There were so many amazing stories: a city of gold (El Dorado), huge Amazon women warriors, men with feet that were put on backwards, and the women were beauties. What was true? What were imaginary tales? The French wanted to know.

This is a book about science, history, politics and the natural resources found in South America. It is informative. It is engaging, and the end does include an exciting adventure. There are numerous maps, depicting the rivers and tributaries in the Amazon basin. There are maps showing the travel routes followed. There are pictures in the book from museum and private collections illustrating tools, scenes, plants and animals. There is an index and a bibliography. There are direct quotes from sources. The subject matter is very well documented. I never found it boring.

I have two complaints. The first I have already pointed out – a deceptive title and book description. Secondly, the mathematical reasoning meant to explain the expedition’s scientific goals are confusing. Although the triangulation, base lines measured and tools employed are extensively described, I still feel I do not always understand why a given measurement would prove the truth or falsity of the scientific principle being questioned. Please note, these sections can be skimmed, but I tried to understand. I read them several times, and I only sort of understood, on a general level .

Despite my two complaints, I very much enjoyed reading this book. I have given it four stars. In my view it is very well written.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly satisfying account of a French scientific expedition to the Andes in the 1730s with exploration of the Amazon added to its end. It helpfully filled in some gaps in my understanding of how the monopoly of the Spanish on South American colonialism gave substantial ground to the Portuguese but only a little to French incursion. The story of the Quito wife of one of the party, Isabel Godin, taking a journey across the Andes and down the Amazon to reach her husband is only a medium section of the book and contributes to a diffusion of focus for the book.

The high priority for measuring latitude and longitude near the equator seemed like a waste of effort before I got Whittaker’s clarification. The French Academy of Science had been taken with Descartes’s explanation of Newton’s mathematics for celestial motion which replaced centrifugal vortex effects in the either as an alternative to gravity’s action at a distance. The Newtonian view would predict a swelling of earth’s shape at the equator while the Descartes/Cassini/Huygens interpretation would call for bulges at the poles. The dedication it took to accurately measure a couple hundred miles in wilderness with a rod was almost absurd in scope of effort, information that had to be combined with measures of the displacement in degrees using measures of latitude from solar azimuth by sextant and longitude from telescopic readings of phases of Jupiter’s moons. The expedition was poorly funded and neglected by the French government, with the result that the two-year projection for the task took closer to ten years before its leaders could arrive home.

The story provides a window on the lives of knowledge seekers of the Enlightenment, supplementing the marvelous and more well-organized approach used by Holmes in his “Age of Wonder.” Soon after arriving in the site of operations in Quito, then an important city in the Viceroyalty of Peru, the leaders La Condamine and Bouguer had a personality clash that hindered their working together. The nephew of another leader, Peter Godin, takes a bigger part of the story with his ambitions to become more than just an assistant. The narrative coverage of his marriage to thirteen-year old Isabel presages the belated fulfillment of the book’s title in the latter part of the tale. Filling the gaps is helpful background on the history of Spanish colonialism since the Conquistadors, the growth of Portuguese settlement of the future Brazil, the French toehold in French Guiana, and their competing ambitions to exploit the riches of the continent by means of enslaving the Indian tribes and importing black slaves. A sad story all around.

The conclusions of the expedition on the size and shape of the earth were less important and interesting to read than other advances in scientific knowledge and nuances in cultural collision between European and native peoples. For example, La Condamine on his exit down the Amazon brought back discoveries of quinine and rubber. Young Godin, who stayed behind for a few years with Isabel, sought to complete a dictionary of the Quechua language. He tried to scout out the safety of a passage over the Andes and down the Amazon, but he ran out of money and influence and got stuck on the Atlantic side of the continent for over 20 years before Isabel took the initiative to come to him.

Unfortunately, details of her party’s trip are sketchy due to lack of detailed written accounts. The feminist ideal of a young woman leading the excursion is undermined by the organization of the trip by her father and two brothers and the use of a sedan chair for her on the first half of the journey. On a river tributary before reaching the Amazon, their boat overturns. Isabel does rise to heroic action, which I refrain from disclosing. Nothing much is said of the 30 slaves and hired porters used on the journey.

Bob Whittaker is the award-winning journalist behind an expose of the psychopharmaceutical industry in his “Mad in America” and “Anatomy of an Epidemic.” This book taps into his interest in South America from an extended stay in his youth in Ecuador. If you can handle the trouble with focus in this book, I believe many who like adventure tales and history of colonialism will find much to like in this story.

[Cherisa B · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Europeans in the expedition and the colonial policies they were subject to were pretty annoying. The eponymous wife of the title only gets a relatively short section near the end so it’s strange the book is named for her. The story was frustrating throughout. Some of the science was interesting, though even that in the end was almost pointless and unimportant. Ultimately I was unsatisfied and glad to finish.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Title in Search of a Book - Alas, the title bears little resemblance to the material betwixt sensational front cover illustration and blurb-infested back cover. Once again, I smell the publishing world's eternal quest for a best-seller at work. This is no Longitude, try as the publishers might to try to cast it into that role.

It is, however, a decently written account of a French scientific expedition to the New World in 1735. Its mission was to measure several arcs of latitude and thus prove (or disprove) Newton's contention that the world was a sphere, flattened at the poles. There's a great deal of scientific background and detail, and it's fairly interesting to those curious about the methods and theories of early mapmakers. It has little to do with "love, murder, and survival in the Amazon," however.

No doubt the PR people reasoned that a plucky female "explorer" would be of more appeal than a tale of contentious French scientists, who seemed to have quarreled their way across one mountain after another during the very long and tedious process of making the minutely exact measurements needed to finish their work. The first five pages of the book open with Isabel (Mapmaker's Wife of title) setting off to cross the continent to join her husband, a minor member of the French expedition whom she'd married some twenty years previously. And then that thread just... vanishes. It's picked up on page 169, but Isabel doesn't undertake her trek until page 226, and she concludes it a mere sixty pages later. Why, then, does the jacket blurb proclaim, "At the heart of the sweeping tale of adventure, discovery and exploration is one woman's extraordinary journey, inspired by her love for the man she had not seen in 20 years"?

Well, I think I know why --- ka-ching!   Someone undoubtedly could hear the cash register. "Damsel in distress" sells infinitely better than "quarrelsome French scientists at work."

Sadly, in the rush to make Isabel the "heart" of the tale, the author overlooked the true dramas that would have made potentially more interesting reading -- the story of the faithful slave Joaquín, who loyally undertook a rescue mission on her behalf, for example, or the "Spanish Benjamin Franklin," Antonio de Ulloa, who rose from a secondary position in the original expedition to become one of his country's most eminent scientists. In short, the decision to frame Isabel and Juan, her husband, as the centerpeice of this tale made sense only from a sensational or marketing point of view. Isabel's jungle trek was indeed fascinating reading, but the whole structure of the book was bogged down by numerous asides (some of which, luckily, were of personal interest). I can imagine, though, that many readers wondered where the heck the promised "true tale of love, murder, and survival" went.

The murder, by the way, was a rather minor affair, occupying at most a dozen pages. Basically, an arrogant, hotheaded member of the French expedition was beaten to death by an angry mob. (I couldn't entirely blame them.)

Structurally, the book was unwieldy, and seemed to backtrack upon itself for little rhyme or reason (much like the loops of some of feeder rivers in the Amazon basin). The tale of two members' trek to Pará is outlined once briefly over several pages, for example, and then reiterated in greater detail once again for no discernible reason. Other problems with organization make an already complex narrative even more complex. This is exacerbated by the author's inability to bring historical personages to life. In this respect, he's no David McCullough, who breaths fresh life into just about every fusty historical person his pen touches. No, sadly, Whitaker (the author) never manages to fully engage the reader's imagination or sympathy -- and this is a pity as there's plenty here to fill both the imagination and the human heart. In the vast canvas of characters, there seems to be a gaping hole that poor Isabel -- whose ordeal was truly remarkable -- seems unable to completely fill.

As luck would have it, though, the reading I'd been doing lately served to spark my interest in the book in a number of peripheral ways. I'd recently read an account of the discovery and exploitation of Amazon rubber, and so the botanical aspects of the expedition held my interest. I'd also just finished an account of Henry Morgan's exploits on the Spanish Main, which were contemporary with the latter parts of the narrative and provided an idea of what the Spanish and English were up to in the New World. And finally, a book on important plants in the colonies had fueled my interest in the discoveries of quinine as a cure for malaria as well as giving background on the subjugation of the native peoples and the slave trade. All this recent reading, in effect, buttressed material in the book.

So ultimately, I'd say that aside from misleading marketing and poor organization, this is a fairly interesting book. It's a pity, though, that the central narrative of the expedition was rather lackluster as that was obviously what the author could have rendered best. The tale of Isabel would be best suited for fact-based fiction. She could be convincingly (though not entirely truthfully) cast Katherine Hepburn-like as the woman who never says die in the middle of the jungle, braving all to be with her man. No quarrelsome French scientists, I need hardly add, have a place in that tale!

[Mag · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a delightful book, even though the title misrepresents what it really is about. The mapmaker's wife, Isabel Godin, occupies less than half of its pages and, even though her story is a very interesting one, it's part of an even more colourful story of the French Academy of Sciences expedition into the Andes to divine the shape and circumference of the Earth.
Without giving too much away, let me just say that Isabel Godin wasn't a mapmaker's wife, either. She was the wife of one of the assistants to the expedition, one of the younger ones on staff. He was named a ‘geographer’ and given a pension by the king in the end, though.
Those inaccuracies aside, it’s a great book full of interesting historical characters and events, info on the colonial life in South America, science at the age of Enlightenment, and American flora and fauna. Among other things, the book made me ponder the resilience and patience of the people back then. Their life seemed so much more difficult on the plain survival level. Tragedy and hardship were ubiquitous. The pace of the 18th century colonial world seems almost unimaginable to me. Take communication for example. You could have no news from your family for months and sometimes even tens of years if your letters went astray or if the ship they were on fell into pirates’ hands or was lost at sea. The whole expedition took eight years to finish their work… Poor Isabel spent twenty years (19 to be exact) to hear back from her loving husband, who after having traversed the continent was waiting for appropriate papers to take her to France. And then there is her months long harrowing trip down the Andes and down the Amazon, the trip the author of the book duplicated and was amazed at the woman's resilience.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the extraordinary true story of Isabel Godin, an 18th-century woman who undertook a harrowing journey through the Amazon rainforest, which was unprecedented for a woman of her time. The narrative starts with the French Geodesic Mission of 1735, a scientific expedition to Ecuador aimed at measuring the earth's circumference, and testing theories related to gravity and the earth’s shape. One of the French scientists, Jean Godin, met and married young Isabel in her hometown of Riobamba in the Viceroyality of Peru (now Cajabamba, Ecuador).

Jean traveled down the Amazon and its tributaries to French Guiana, intending to retrieve his wife later, but due to political issues between the colonial authorities, was unable to obtain permission to travel back. He thought it would take two years. After twenty years, Isabel decided to attempt the treacherous journey down the Amazon River to reunite with him. She embarked with a party of forty-one individuals, but the expedition turned into a nightmarish ordeal of disease, multitudes of insects, hostile encounters, and the jungle's brutal conditions.

Whitaker employs a structure that weaves together the scientific mission's broader historical context with Isabel's personal story. The prose style is engaging. The author draws on extensive archival research, expedition journals, and period documents to reconstruct events in vivid detail. The narrative portrays both the European scientists trying to prove Enlightenment-era scientific theories and Isabel's psychological and physical struggle to survive.

The book covers themes of colonialism, scientific ambition, Enlightenment-era rationality, and the power of nature. There are a few areas that rely on informed speculation due to gaps in the historical record. It is a satisfying mix of science, history, and survival. I always enjoy learning about an obscure but remarkable episode in history, and Whitaker has done an excellent job of bringing this one back to light.

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mapmaker's Wife intrigued me - the journey of Isabel Godin across the Amazonian jungle to be reunited with her husband after 20 long years. Yet, it wasn't what I was expecting. After a brief mention of Isabel (still a child in the convent), Robert Whitaker plunges into the tale of the French Expedition to Peru to determine the shape of the globe. I almost gave up reading the book as, in meticulous detail, he explains the back story to the expedition. I'm glad I didn't because after a slow start, the narrative picked up pace and it was a fascinating history of science, politics, social status, and conflict. It's not until about the last 100 pages that Whitaker returns to Isabel and Jean Godin's story - and I found it riveting. This is really two stories in one book. I would love to see Isabel's story told larger, but overall, a book worth reading if you love travel, science, adventure and romance.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went into this book knowing it was mismarketed and that it’s really about a team of French scientists—and their Spanish minders—on an expedition to what is now Ecuador, in the 1730s and 40s, rather than the rainforest trek of the wealthy local woman who married an expedition assistant. (Said rainforest trek occupies 50 pages at the end.) That was fine with me: I love Enlightenment science history. And this is decent Enlightenment science history, but not the best I’ve read.

Basically, a team of three high-profile French scientists and several assistants traveled to the Spanish colonies to measure a degree of latitude at the equator, in order to resolve a raging argument about the exact shape of the Earth (namely, whether it’s more flattened at the equator or the poles). The whole expedition wound up taking a decade, between the difficulties of going and returning, and the many difficulties of taking the measurements. The scientists wound up dividing into two separate parties because they couldn’t stand each other, got embroiled in local politics—one of their assistants was killed by a mob in a small town; to be fair he was an arrogant Frenchman, and the mob was provoked—but did ultimately do quite a lot of useful research, much of it not even on the subject they’d come to study. In true Enlightenment fashion, they studied everything from the local plants to Quechua grammar.

In the end the academicians went home and the assistants mostly got stranded in the colony for lack of money to pay their passage. One, Jean Godin, married Isabel Gramesón, the 13-year-old daughter of a prominent colonial family, traveled from Ecuador through Brazil to French Guiana “to prepare the way” and then spent 20 years trying to get her out too. This was not because anyone wanted to stop her, but due to the incredible slowness of communication and inhospitable terrain, combined with diplomatic complications, plus the inexplicable unwillingness of everyone involved to consider literally any other route besides trekking through the entire Amazon. (I remained confused the entire book about why they couldn’t go out the way they came in, by taking ship from Guayaquil to Panama, crossing the isthmus by land and then sailing home from the Caribbean.) You think the couple of months’ delay in communication between Britain and its North American colonies was bad? When Jean Godin’s father died, his siblings wrote him a letter in Ecuador asking him to come home immediately and he got it eight years later! When a ship finally went up the Amazon to fetch Isabel, its entire crew waited four years at the meeting point for her to show up. Talk about patience and dedication to the job.

All that said, the focus of the book is maybe a little too diffuse, or the author’s writing just not the most incisive. It touches on a lot of interesting topics, from the lives of those involved to the science to the culture of colonial Peru (as the whole area was known at the time), but doesn’t go in-depth on any of them. I’d have liked a little more explanation of the mathematics, and a little less Eurocentrism. Also, while Isabel’s journey was certainly harrowing, I wouldn’t call her a heroine—her survival is admirable, but she undertook the journey at the behest and with the assistance of her male relatives, and the worst of it resulted from her and her brothers’ unwillingness to brave the canoe.

In the end, a fine choice if you’re particularly interested in Enlightenment science history, but if you’re new to the subject, try The Age of Wonder or The Knife Man first. Or, if you want the story of an Enlightenment-era European woman’s adventures in South America, I highly recommend Chrysalis, about a 17th century Dutch scientist and artist who traveled to Suriname on her own initiative.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this an engrossing read, focusing on the exploits of a team of French mapmakers in recently colonised South America, and a woman who took her destiny into her own hands in order to be reunited with her husband.

We get a very good look at the then-impenetrable jungles and broad path of the Amazon through this territory. Just about all travel was by river. An international expedition was sent to discover the shape of the Earth at the Equator, to settle opposing theories about whether it bulged. They were led by Charles Marie de la Condamine and Louis Godin. A nephew of Godin's, Jean Godin, was among them and in the towns of Ecuador he met Isabel Grameson, daughter of a local landowner. We see some snapshots of her early life in a convent school, reading romantic fiction tales of Spanish heroes and maidens.

Isabel's story really takes up when Jean has to leave her and their children to travel down the Amazon to the sea. Arriving at Rio, Jean learned that Portugal, France and Spain were now at odds, and anyone travelling around was suspect. He was not allowed to return to his wife. Isabel tried to send messages but the width of the continent proved too much. Finally she decided to tackle the rivers and jungles herself. She started out sensibly with a group of friends and servants, luggage and a carrying chair. That didn't last, but her determination did.

The book incorporates a great deal of information about politics, resources and travel at the time; amid the flowering of science and enquiry, much of which was informed by travellers in South America like Humboldt. I found it very readable and better written than Longitude by Dava Sobel.

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been excitedly buzzing about this book the whole time I was reading it, so I'm afraid that my 3-star rating threw at least one friend for a loop. So I'm going to do my best to explain what might, in the end, come down to that whole "stars are relative" issue. Also, I'm going to risk bringing down the wrath of my office roomie by saying that it's really more of a 3.5. (And now we'll see if he really reads my reviews!)

Anyway. I really liked this book. I went in half expecting a dry, slow slog based on the general tone of the existing GoodReads reviews, and for me that wasn't what I found. Granted, I'm a closet science nerd so that might play into it. But I really enjoyed the descriptions of how these Enlightenment scientists figured out the best way to measure a degree of latitude. I really enjoyed reading about early science feuds regarding the nature of physics. The murder and survival stuff was a bonus, obviously, but I will agree that if you're going in with that as your primary motivating factor you may be in the wrong book.

Here are some of the things that I learned that I found alternately appalling or amazing. Or occasionally both. If these ring your bell, I give the green light to pick this up as soon as possible.

*When the scientists measured their first baseline, upon which all of their future calculations would be based, they measured it in separate groups going the opposite direction in order to have two sets of data to compare. They were accurate to within three inches. Consider that. A bunch of 18th century Europeans in the Andes mountains laid what was essentially a handful of yardsticks resting on sawhorses (to keep them level) end-to-end for approximately a modern mile, and matched each other's work to within three inches! Meanwhile, I can measure the wall in my bedroom with a tape measure four times in a row and get a different number every time.

*These scientists came to the New World on this expedition and ended up spending more than a decade traveling and working, often without funding. Godin, who was the mapmaker of the title, spent something like forty years working for the crown in the Andes. He devoted his life to this expedition, and when it was finished there was not enough money to send him home. He continued living in South America with his new wife, trying to earn enough money for passage back to France. Oh, and he received a letter informing him of his father's death - eight years after it had been sent!

*Of course, there are countless descriptions of the corruption and terrible subjugation of native people and Africans. Because wherever there is imperialism, there will also be crimes against humanity.

*And finally, what I think draws most people to this story in the first place: Isabel Godin. When there was finally enough money and the proper papers for the Godin family to travel to France, they had been separated for nearly twenty years. Godin had missed his daughter's birth, her 19 years of life, and her death from smallpox. Amazing to consider. And when his wife finally embarked on her journey to rejoin her husband, she ended up on foot in the Amazon. A sheltered, upper-class woman raised to be isolated, dependent, and demure was put in a situation she could not possibly have been prepared for, a situation that killed dozens of experienced explorers and adventurers, and she survived.

So, yeah. There's a ton to like about this book, and I'm realizing that I haven't really explained why I didn't give it four stars. I think it must be one of those circumstances where you just have to chalk it up to how subjective the stars really are. Because I really liked it, but I also didn't find it as engaging to my emotions as it was to my intellect. Maybe that's what it was. At any rate, I do feel confident recommending it to anyone who's interested in Enlightenment science, exploration, and history. And the survival story at the end is just a big cherry on top of the awesome science sundae.

[GG Stewart’s Bookhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remember when they told you to never judge a book by its cover…? For all the romantic historical readers…skip to page 200. For those who love in-depth explanations and technical scientific experiments explained the rest of the book is all for you. Don’t get me wrong, I bought this book because it was not a love story. I cheated and read the first chapter at the store, hehe.
This book gives an account of what is going on scientifically, politically, socially, and religiously during the exploration of how our planet is shaped and the race to see what country gets it right first.
This is the expedition of Charles-Marie de La Condamine into the Amazon to measure the distance of one degree of latitude at the equator to determine the shape of the earth. Eight years, nine Frenchman and two Spaniards set out to do what has never been done before. The book describes the horrible conditions, hardships, and dangers endured and the loss of one of their own in a country where laws are little more than suggestions. It’s a well written account of the expedition and their results.
Now…the love affair part comes at the end when one of the youngest after the expedition is finished is married to a young noble Peruvian woman and then struggles to find passage back to France for her and himself. Their love story expands 20 years in which he is in another part of the Amazon and she decides (once she finds out he is alive) to travel into and cross the Amazon to reunite with her husband. The details of her journey are nightmarish and horrific. A heartbreaking tale, filled with faith, hope and yes, love.

[Lcbogota · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book's subtitle is A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon. It is actually a pretext for stringing together an endless diatribe about the debate about how to measure the size and shape of the world, the conquest of the New World, and political intrigues among the Spanish governors in the Americas, plus a million tangents thrown in for good measure. Isabel Grameson's story is a mere pretext, and it hardly figures in the book at all. Worse yet, I could not help but ask myself why it appears that this author appears to not have had the services of a competent editor. The writing meanders aimlessly (or as the author might have written, 'The writing wanders, lost in its own thoughts, delighting upon digressions that it, perchance, might never encounter again). For example, "He was the seventh of eleven children, but only two of his siblings --two brothers and two sisters-- survived past infancy." Providing us with a plethora of information that is neither interesting nor relevant to any aspect of plot or character development. Other writing gems, "Although this was slow going, the air was cool, and they were hit by only an occasional burst of icy rain." Excuse me, but where is the rest of the sentence? Also, not every noun requires an adjective, and inappropriate metaphor becomes tiresome real fast. "Like all rivers that drained the eastern slopes of the Andes, the Bobonaza was a fickle beast." Sorry Mr. Whitaker, you have failed to tell a story, and your writing sucks.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe 2.5 stars. This book just was too tedious a read for the majority of the book for me although it was packed with all kinds of wonderful historical detail and scientific facts & discoveries. If you love the period of enlightenment and to learn all there is to know about this scientific expedition then this is the book for you.

They all knew much was at stake. They were setting out to explore a continent and pursue a grand scientific quest. What was the earth's shape? Was Newton or Descartes right? What was the force that kept planets in their orbits? And how could one best know the world? Through concrete observations, as the French had done with their many measurements of the arc? Or through abstract mathematics?

I placed this on my nonfiction shelf without specificity because it details the history of cosmology, geography & scientific methods up until the 1730's when this French expedition to South America occurred to measure the distance of one degree of latitude to help determine the size and shape of the earth. The flora and fauna is amply described as well. In addition, it is also packed with the history of conquest, colonialism, culture and politics in the area. A small section of the book is devoted to Isabel- the Mapmaker's wife -and her extraordinary journey across the Andes and down the Amazon. That was the most page turning part of the book. An amazing triumph of the human spirit's will to survive.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Mapmaker's Wife is a history of scientific exploration, as well as a story of one woman's survival through the Amazon rainforest; the best parts of this book were the descriptions of Isabel Grameson-Godin's journey alone through the Amazon. I was really drawn to this section of the book; sadly it just didn't last long enough!

The book begins in 1769, with Isabel (nee Grameson) Godin deciding that it was time she make the journey down the Amazon to meet her husband. Jean Godin was a part of a group of scientists from France who had come to the equatorial region of Peru to make studies of the shape of the earth (which was still unknown at the time). By measuring a degree of longitude, they would be able to determine whether or not the earth bulged at the equator; simultaneously, another expedition had gone up north to Lapland to see they could prove that the earth flattens toward the poles. Politics between Spain and France, Spain and Portugal, and France and Portugal changed and changed again within the scope of the 20+ years this book covers, and this had a definite impact on the story of the explorations as well as on Isabella's journey.

The first part of the book discusses what was known about the physical geography of the world up until the 1700s; it also discusses the Enlightenment movement and politics in Europe.
The author has done a huge amount of research. Then the book focuses on the expedition itself and the various trials and tribulations of the French party as they tried to keep their research going. When Isabella is only 13 she marries Jean Godin; she has dreams of going to France. He would like to take her there, but he has never been paid for his work and was stranded in South America. Godin decides to go to the other side of the continent and work to raise money; he then thought he would go back to Peru and take Isabella and his daughter with him back down the Amazon and on to France. But as things usually go, his plans fell through, and ultimately the couple were separated for 20 years. Isabella decides that she must find her husband and go on to France, and she and a small retinue set out to go down the Amazon to the Atlantic Ocean. Her journey through the Amazon, as I noted, is the best part of this story and I was amazed by what this woman was able to endure.

The positives about this book: the author definitely did his homework and a LOT of meticulous research. You really get a feel for politics, science & the mistreatment of the natives at the hands of the Europeans.

The negatives: maybe a little too much science history at the beginning; I really like history & I enjoy reading it, but I felt like I was overwhelmed with fact fact fact here. Getting into the story, I felt like the title was a little misleading. The voyages down the Amazon and through the rainforest were fascinating to read but the "murder" part of the story was way underdone so if you were expecting something lurid, forget it.

All in all, it was an okay book, and if you're interested in mapmaking, European politics, science during the Enlightenment period and the history of the Amazon region in general, you'll like it.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Mapmaker's Wife" is popular history at its very best. It describes events that involved the members of the French Geodesic Mission to the Equator conducted between 1735 and 1744 in what is now Ecuador and Brazil for the purposes of taking measurements that would settle the question of whether the word was a sphere as proposed by César-François Cassini or shaped like a melon (flattened at the poles) as postulated by Isaac Newton. The actual climax of the book, which is the story of how Doña Isabel de Godin des Odonais the wife of one of the members de la Condamine's team survives a period of several weeks during which she was stranded in the Amazon jungle, takes place 25 years after the actual Mission was terminated.
The leader of the expedition was Charles Marie de La Condamine of the French Academy of Sciences who in a very illustrious career would make contributions to the disciplines of botany, astronomy, geodesics, and medicine. He also was the driving force convincing the medical profession for the need to inoculate against small pox and was the prime developer of the modern metre. His expedition to South America would resolve the question of the shape of the globe in favour of Newton. It would also make important discoveries about the rubber and quinine plants.
Whitaker's book does not have a single academically defined topic but covers a wide range of subjects. It provides a great overview of the Enlightenment and explains the major scientific debates that dominated the era. When the scene moves to Ecuador Whitaker provides an outstanding portrait of Latin American society. He describes the methods of gathering scientific data as well as the risks involved of travelling in the Andes and Amazon basin during the 18th century. To spice it up there are stories of the conflicts, romances, duels and murders involving the members of the Mission and various members of the local Ecuadorean nobility. The highlight as already mentioned is the tale of the perils and travails of Doña Isabel who becomes stranded in the Amazon jungle while attempting to travel to French Guiana to rejoin her husband who has established himself there as a planter.
Whitaker's book is filled with fascinated maps and illustrations from the era. His writing style is lively and most importantly he possesses the great knack of knowing what needs to be explained to the reader from the general public unfamiliar with either Colonial Latin America, 18th century intellectual trends or travel in the jungle. He goes so far as to explain what capybaras and tapirs are in case any of his readers have never seen one in a zoo. "The Mapmaker's Wife" is simultaneously an account of Western society at a time when it was making great scientific progress and a chronicle of human passion. It is both exciting and intellectually stimulating.
One word of caution however is needed. The scientific work of the protagonists is well documented. The stories of human romance and mayhem however often have only one source coming from heavily biased and personally implicated individuals. Thus it must recognized that there are likely places where fiction has crept into Whitaker's book.

[Sarah W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a combination of so many things - the tale of a scientific expedition, an adventure story, a history of colonialism in South America, an unlikely survival tale - that it's hard to classify it or understand how the author fit so much information in so few pages. It also made me think about how much of my education and reading about history is focused on the English-speaking world - reading this book was like exploring a new world of which I only had the barest outlines. Starting with a French scientific expedition in the 1730s to the equator, this book chronicles the scientific debates and findings and then how members of the expedition remained in South America for years and decades afterwards. And among them were a couple who were separated for nearly twenty years until the wife journeyed through hundreds of miles of dangerous rivers and rainforest to reunite. An amazing story that deserves more attention than history has given it thus afar.

[Laurie Buchanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Whitaker's writing style made feel like I was IN the story, not just reading it. The pendulum swings both ways in the recounting of this harrowing, real-life adventure. At times it caused goosebumps on my arms; at others, it brought tears to my eyes. A combination of mystery, love story, and thriller, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

[yórgos]

η ιστορία αγάπης του ζαν και της ισαμπέλ με 21 χρόνια ζωής χώρια και τον αμαζόνιο ανάμεσά τους που κρατάει εκατό και κάτι σελίδες από τις 400-κάτι σελίδες καθαρού κειμένου πέρα από προλόγο, βιβλιογραφία και λίστες ονομάτων. τόνους καλύτερο από ττο βιβλίο για τη φλόρενς μπέικερ στην αφρική με τους γλυκανάλατους υποθετικούς διαλόγους που θεώρησε σωστό να πλάσει η συγγραφέας με στοιχεία από τις επιστολές της.

[Elizabeth Judd Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Badly named, badly described on the back cover, and badly edited. The author obviously actually wanted to write a book about the expedition which led to Isabel Godin (the "mapmaker's wife) meeting her husband, but instead either he or his publishers decided to pretend it was a book about her. Her story takes up at a stretch maybe 1/4 of the book; the rest is about the expedition. And there's no reason not to write a book about the expedition, so the reason to market it differently really makes no sense. There's also no reason not to write a book about Isabel Godin, and she deserves more than a book pretending to be about her when she is basically just thrown in for a little to justify the title. The book is also terribly edited--the author constantly goes off on little tangents which offer interesting facts about the rainforest or the history of the area but do not add to the subject at hand; they basically add up to a lot of interesting unrelated facts which do not tell us anything about either the expedition or Isabel. The author also has a bad habit of telling us what Isabel is thinking when she does feature, when he could have no idea what she was thinking about, and he seems constantly surprised that a woman could have any gumption at all; he does not treat the males in the story the same way (apparently she spent a lot of time thinking about love, being devoted to her husband, being frightened of animals, and worrying about her appearance more than her health after wandering alone through the jungle for weeks). He has an odd way of phrasing things--whites mating with Negroes, for example. And why he constantly uses the word Negro (he doesn't use the word Caucasian) is beyond me; this book is recent, not 100 years old. He chooses strange sources to quote, as well; for instance at one point he quotes a passage from one of the expedition members stating that African women in South America have such long, flexible breasts that they sling them over their shoulders to breastfeed their babies. The author never questions this, and what it has to do with the expedition or Isabel is beyond me--it just seems thrown in as a "wacky" "fact" to entertain. He also quotes sources about the weather in the area from 100 years after the events of the book and jumps back & forth in time when describing how hard it is to travel in the Amazon--I'm not sure how knowing what it's like now helps anyone understand what the people in the book went through (it seems like the modern stuff is yet more random facts thrown in because the author feels they are interesting). Other things which have relevance to the story are mentioned in passing--for instance, why does being short make you more likely to live longer in starvation mode? He states that it does, but not why. And yet other things are brought up without much thought--he states that Isabel's hair turned grey in the jungle, probably due to lack of vitamins, but since he keeps mentioning that she is middle-aged (apparently this also helped her survive her starved state, tho he never explains why that helped her and not her middle-aged brothers), did it not perhaps also happen because of her age? None of that is discussed, but there are lots of tangents about other people who survived being stranded in the elements in totally unrelated incidents.
So, to sum it all up, badly written, badly edited, and badly presented. If I pick up a book expecting to read about a woman who travelled through the Amazon, then I expect the *bulk* of the book to be about her, not a few pages at the end. I also don't expect a barrage of facts that have nothing to do with the subject at hand, whether it's Isabel Godin or the expedition that led to her marriage. Very disappointing on so many levels.

[Thereadingbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a scientific and exploratory expedition carried out in the 1730s and 40s by the French. It is about the Spanish conquest of South America, conquistadors, Hernando Cortés and Francisco Pizarro. It is about the conquest of the Aztecs and the Incas. It is about the plants and animals and minerals and gems found around Quito and the upper stretches of the Amazon. In the pages of this book you will find a lot of history and information about both Spanish and native South American beliefs and practices. You are sure to be fascinated by the description of indigenous plants and animals.

It is important to note that the expedition took place during the Enlightenment. Although the expedition’s primary goal was to measure the distance of one degree of latitude, many other scientific areas were also to be studied, all in the spirit of the era. New scientific instruments were to be tested, to discover the shape of the earth, to discover more precise knowledge of the laws of gravity. Temperature's effect on metals was to be quantified. Botanical varieties were to be documented, in the hope of finding new products and medicines.

The expedition was also to spy. The French wanted to discover what the Spanish had hidden in its Viceroyalty of Peru, as Spain’s territory in South America was called. (Don’t think just Peru. The area extended over a huge chunk of South America up to the Caribbean coastline.) There were so many amazing stories: a city of gold (El Dorado), huge Amazon women warriors, men with feet that were put on backwards, and the women were beauties. What was true? What were imaginary tales? The French wanted to know.

This is a true story and very educational about exploration, experimentation and the issues that can go with them. The title of the book is a bit miss leading.

[Bobbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you read the title of this book and the summary on the back, you're going to be very surprised at the story. While there is a mapmaker's wife, a murder, and survival stories in the book, it's mostly about how the French went about measuring latitude in Peru!

I happen to be very interested in science so I found this fascinating, but I can't imagine that most people would and that is reflected in a lot of the reviews. The first two-thirds of the book is devoted to their 8 years trying to measure a meridian. Sounds boring, but they finally did and discovered Newton's hypothesis was correct.

In the last third of the book, one of the expedition, a minor character through most of the story, marries a local 14 year old girl, lives a few years with her and then decides they need to return to France. He travels down the Amazon to see if it's safe and finally gets to the Atlantic. After 20 years (yep, he stayed there that long to find the money and permission to return for her) she finally decides to follow him. This part is amazing.

So, you'll have to decide if you want to wade through a lot of science to get to the exciting parts, of if you like that sort of thing, this book is for you.

[Phyllis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slowly it's becoming clearer to me that non-fiction books, based on fascinating true life characters or great adventures are more appealing to my current stage in life than just another made up tale. The title character, although she isn't actually present for most of the book, is absolutely fascinating. I can't give any of Isabel's story away, but it is one of the most incredible and amazing I've ever read. This woman, who grew up as a pampered second generation Spaniard (known as Creole, even though she had no mixed blood)in times when women were background characters, is little known to history in general, but her story is totally unique. I am inspired by her spirit, bravery, backbone of steel. I also loved the story of the group of French academics who set off to measure the planet 400 years ago. Each one was a strong personality, and it's not surprising that they bickered, had very different ideas of how to do the job, and even separated at times. I would have loved to do the research for this book, and it's clear that the author totally enjoyed himself.

[Amy Rollo · Rating 1 out of 5]

I put this book down a little more than halfway through in favor of binge watching The Queen’s Gambit, which I found tenfold more intellectually stimulating than this book.

This book is not about the mapmaker’s wife. It’s about the mapmaker and his egocentric group of scientists that become angry at the most minute disagreement.

This was one of the driest history lessons I’ve ever encountered. I wanted to like it, but I just kept questioning whether or not we’d hear the wife’s name mentioned more than 5 times in the first two hundred pages. I can’t even remember what her first name is.

Also, the author just gives a nod to the horrible atrocities that happened as this area of the world was colonized.

There was a good book in this story, but this wasn’t it. The title, subtitle, and back cover are incredibly misleading on what this book is about.

[Bruno Laschet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Im Oktober 2023 erschien das Buch "Breitengrad" von Nicolas Crane. Es erzählt eine Geschichte, die sich zwischen 1735 und 1744 in Ecuador und Peru zugetragen hat. Französische Wissenschafter berechneten die Länge eines Breitengrades am Äquator um die Form der Erde zu berechnen. Ich gab diesem Buch 3 Sterne, da zwar die Geschichte selbst interessant aber schlecht beschrieben war.
Da mich diese Berechnung aber begeisterte, stöberte ich im Internet um weitere Infos zu bekommen. Dort las ich dann vom Buch "Die Frau des Kartographen" aus dem Jahre 2005. Auch hier wird die Geschichte der Berechnungen erzählt - aber diesmal wesentlich besser.
Was jedoch die wahre neue Geschichte dieses Buches ausmacht ist die Reise einer Frau von Peru durch den Regenwald bis nach Franz. Guayana. Ein Mitglied der Expedition hatte geheiratet und wollte seine Frau mit auf die Heimreise nach Frankreich nehmen. Er kundschafte den Weg vorher aus und musste aber in Guayana bleiben. Nach 20 Jahren Trennung machte sich seine Frau mit 8 Helfern auf den Weg nach Cayenne. Eine unglaubliche Reise durch den Regenwald und über den Amazonas begann, die in die Geschichte einging...

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This was a worthy 5 star read. I thought the subject might be a bit dry but I was totally absorbed into the scientific discoveries of the 1700s along with the European politics of the time. And through it all is the story of Jean and Isobel and their incredible journeys across the Amazon.
The author has clearly done a tremendous amount of research and it paid off.

[Helena Trofa]

I can’t rate this book bc it was literally historical account of expedition. I didn’t realize when I picked up this book it would truly just be history told in story format but honestly i’m not displeased with it. It was very slow to get through but it made me appreciate the advancements I take for granted. Like for example, this book goes into LENGTHS about bugs/diseases people encountered; I would’ve been dead, there is no shot I would’ve survived the environment alone. The one bone to pick is the title of this book. Like yes we’re following a couple but there is barely anything related to them being in love and the book for the most part doesn’t follow the wife.

[Betsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you’re interested in the difference in 18th century French and English approaches to latitude measurement, this book is for you.

If you’re interested in the topic that the title and dust jacket indicate, skip to the last 75 pages.

[Lauren Hiebner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome story of early 1700s in Ecuador, the French explorers and their struggles. But also about perseverance in the jungles of Ecuador by one woman.

[Marni · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting telling of an expedition of French and Spanish scientists who went to the equator in what was Peru in the early 1700's. They were trying to figure out how distance between lines of longitude changed at the equator. The book is called The Mapmaker's Wife because one member of the expedition married a local woman in Peru and just a couple of years after their marriage set off to travel the Amazon to the eastern shore of South America. Twenty years later, Isobel (the wife) set off to go to him and survived a horrific trip.

[Sara Boedt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Titel heeft bitter weinig met het verhaal te maken dus vreemde keuze, verder wel een oké verhaal maar niets bijzonders aan