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The Discovery of Jeanne Baret: A Story of Science, the High Seas, and the First Woman to Circumnavigate the Globe
The year was 1765. Eminent botanist Philibert Commerson had just been appointed to a grand new the first French circumnavigation of the world. As the ships’ official naturalist, Commerson would seek out resources—medicines, spices, timber, food—that could give the French an edge in the ever-accelerating race for empire.
Jeanne Baret, Commerson’s young mistress and collaborator, was desperate not to be left behind. She disguised herself as a teenage boy and signed on as his assistant. The journey made the twenty-six-year-old, known to her shipmates as “Jean” rather than “Jeanne,” the first woman to ever sail around the globe. Yet so little is known about this extraordinary woman, whose accomplishments were considered to be subversive, even impossible for someone of her sex and class.
When the ships made landfall and the secret lovers disembarked to explore, Baret carried heavy wooden field presses and bulky optical instruments over beaches and hills, impressing observers on the ships’ decks with her obvious strength and stamina. Less obvious were the strips of linen wound tight around her upper body and the months she had spent perfecting her masculine disguise in the streets and marketplaces of Paris.
Expedition commander Louis-Antoine de Bougainville recorded in his journal that curious Tahitian natives exposed Baret as a woman, eighteen months into the voyage. But the true story, it turns out, is more complicated.
In The Discovery of Jeanne Baret, Glynis Ridley unravels the conflicting accounts recorded by Baret’s crewmates to piece together the real how Baret’s identity was in fact widely suspected within just a couple of weeks of embarking, and the painful consequences of those suspicions; the newly discovered notebook, written in Baret’s own hand, that proves her scientific acumen; and the thousands of specimens she collected, most famously the showy vine bougainvillea.
Ridley also richly explores Baret’s awkward, sometimes dangerous interactions with the men on the ship, including Baret’s lover, the obsessive and sometimes prickly naturalist; a fashion-plate prince who, with his elaborate wigs and velvet garments, was often mistaken for a woman himself; the sour ship’s surgeon, who despised Baret and Commerson; even a Tahitian islander who joined the expedition and asked Baret to show him how to behave like a Frenchman.
But the central character of this true story is Jeanne Baret herself, a working-class woman whose scientific contributions were quietly dismissed and written out of history—until now. Anchored in impeccable original research and bursting with unforgettable characters and exotic settings, The Discovery of Jeanne Baret offers this forgotten heroine a chance to bloom at long last.
Jeanne Baret, Commerson’s young mistress and collaborator, was desperate not to be left behind. She disguised herself as a teenage boy and signed on as his assistant. The journey made the twenty-six-year-old, known to her shipmates as “Jean” rather than “Jeanne,” the first woman to ever sail around the globe. Yet so little is known about this extraordinary woman, whose accomplishments were considered to be subversive, even impossible for someone of her sex and class.
When the ships made landfall and the secret lovers disembarked to explore, Baret carried heavy wooden field presses and bulky optical instruments over beaches and hills, impressing observers on the ships’ decks with her obvious strength and stamina. Less obvious were the strips of linen wound tight around her upper body and the months she had spent perfecting her masculine disguise in the streets and marketplaces of Paris.
Expedition commander Louis-Antoine de Bougainville recorded in his journal that curious Tahitian natives exposed Baret as a woman, eighteen months into the voyage. But the true story, it turns out, is more complicated.
In The Discovery of Jeanne Baret, Glynis Ridley unravels the conflicting accounts recorded by Baret’s crewmates to piece together the real how Baret’s identity was in fact widely suspected within just a couple of weeks of embarking, and the painful consequences of those suspicions; the newly discovered notebook, written in Baret’s own hand, that proves her scientific acumen; and the thousands of specimens she collected, most famously the showy vine bougainvillea.
Ridley also richly explores Baret’s awkward, sometimes dangerous interactions with the men on the ship, including Baret’s lover, the obsessive and sometimes prickly naturalist; a fashion-plate prince who, with his elaborate wigs and velvet garments, was often mistaken for a woman himself; the sour ship’s surgeon, who despised Baret and Commerson; even a Tahitian islander who joined the expedition and asked Baret to show him how to behave like a Frenchman.
But the central character of this true story is Jeanne Baret herself, a working-class woman whose scientific contributions were quietly dismissed and written out of history—until now. Anchored in impeccable original research and bursting with unforgettable characters and exotic settings, The Discovery of Jeanne Baret offers this forgotten heroine a chance to bloom at long last.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published December 28, 2010
43 people are currently reading
1469 people want to read
About the author
Glynis Ridley
6 books8 followersFrom Book Cover:
Glynis Ridley is the author of Clara's Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe, which won the Institute of Historical Research (University of London) Prize. A British citizen, she is now a professor of English at the University of Louisville.
Glynis Ridley is the author of Clara's Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe, which won the Institute of Historical Research (University of London) Prize. A British citizen, she is now a professor of English at the University of Louisville.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews
January 21, 2012
This is fiction, not history. Ridley found an intriguing couple of paragraphs about a woman who disguised herself as a man and voyaged around the world, and then, lacking any other primary source material--no word of Barets has survived--Ridley goes on to invent an entire book's worth of narrative, none of it grounded in primary sources.
The book is full of carefully painted scenes describing what Ridley imagines might have happened, down to which berry her subject picked on the shores of Tierra del Fuego, and what malady it was supposed to cure. A list of herbal remedies with no attribution, found bound into Baret's lover's papers, is interpreted based on its handwriting differing from Baret's lover's as a lover's gift from a young Baret. Scenes on shipboard are painted vividly, although there is no basis in fact for these scenes. The phrases, "must have felt" "must have thought" "must have wanted" appear on page after page. So do Baret's tumultuous emotions, which are described minutely in scene after scene, based on nothing but what the author assumes her subject should have felt.
Ridley's imagination so is heavily influenced by 21st century feminist academic theory that she cannot resist the temptation to turn Baret into a saintly icon, the Noble Peasant Herbal Woman, as real as the Noble Savage of the philosophes except much duller.
Ridley takes a few obscure sentences written in conflicting accounts published by gentlemen who sailed with Baret--and makes what she imagines they really mean the mainspring of the book, claiming that Baret was gang raped. From there Ridley imagines her becoming a pathetic victim of post-traumatic stress that dominates the rest of her life. This would be poignant if it were believable, but coming as it does after hundreds of pages of the author making up scene after scene from whole cloth, I could not find it believable. Especially not when once the subject of the putative gang rape is brought up Ridley leaves her hitherto proto-fictional prose style behind and erupts into paragraphs of smug, constipated, academic codespeak to describe the imagined rape.
I would have liked very much to learn about the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. But like so many women of her times Baret left no literary remains. The few paragraphs others wrote about her may have been deeply inspirational to Ridley, but the Baret she invents is a figment of her imagination, created to embody her own strongly held beliefs.
The objective historian puts down this book knowing only that a woman named Baret existed, and traveled the world dressed as a man and acting as the servant of a botanist. What she really did, felt, or experienced remains unknown.
The book is full of carefully painted scenes describing what Ridley imagines might have happened, down to which berry her subject picked on the shores of Tierra del Fuego, and what malady it was supposed to cure. A list of herbal remedies with no attribution, found bound into Baret's lover's papers, is interpreted based on its handwriting differing from Baret's lover's as a lover's gift from a young Baret. Scenes on shipboard are painted vividly, although there is no basis in fact for these scenes. The phrases, "must have felt" "must have thought" "must have wanted" appear on page after page. So do Baret's tumultuous emotions, which are described minutely in scene after scene, based on nothing but what the author assumes her subject should have felt.
Ridley's imagination so is heavily influenced by 21st century feminist academic theory that she cannot resist the temptation to turn Baret into a saintly icon, the Noble Peasant Herbal Woman, as real as the Noble Savage of the philosophes except much duller.
Ridley takes a few obscure sentences written in conflicting accounts published by gentlemen who sailed with Baret--and makes what she imagines they really mean the mainspring of the book, claiming that Baret was gang raped. From there Ridley imagines her becoming a pathetic victim of post-traumatic stress that dominates the rest of her life. This would be poignant if it were believable, but coming as it does after hundreds of pages of the author making up scene after scene from whole cloth, I could not find it believable. Especially not when once the subject of the putative gang rape is brought up Ridley leaves her hitherto proto-fictional prose style behind and erupts into paragraphs of smug, constipated, academic codespeak to describe the imagined rape.
I would have liked very much to learn about the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. But like so many women of her times Baret left no literary remains. The few paragraphs others wrote about her may have been deeply inspirational to Ridley, but the Baret she invents is a figment of her imagination, created to embody her own strongly held beliefs.
The objective historian puts down this book knowing only that a woman named Baret existed, and traveled the world dressed as a man and acting as the servant of a botanist. What she really did, felt, or experienced remains unknown.
January 27, 2024
Frenchwoman Jeanne Baret disguising herself as a man, for her safety, joins her lover on a voyage to circumnavigate the globe for glory and economic riches on behalf of France. While the author does wonderful work describing the beauty and hardships the Senior men and crew endured both onboard and on land using primary sources, her explanations of Baret’s role during this endeavor is surprisingly based on suppositions. There are no first person journals or notes written by Baret of any onboard experience or of her many land excursions while searching for undiscovered flora and fauna. The author uses one or two lines within the notes and journals of the ship’s Captain Bougainville and chief medic Viveres and extrapolates an extraordinary amount of guesses, “I supposes” to Baret’s feelings, actions and thoughts during her voyage. None of her work survives or is credit to her today only that she did indeed set sail with these men. Thus I expected more from the author. While I enjoyed the journey, I was wanting more for and from Jeanne Baret herself.
May 27, 2017
Shortly after I began this book I was giving it a 2- it was okay. Then a 3-- then a 4, and by the end I knew it was nothing short of amazing - a 5 ! The story as it was told by Glynis Ridley is a 5 star!
My problem, initially, was I found myself continually questioning the author--how could she possibly know this- how could she infer that. Certainly I felt the author was biased, and I expected to be engulfed in some sort of feminist manifesto about a young herb woman who went to sea as a slave for an elite taskmaster botanist. But, the book evolved into an absolutely fascinating story about what in the end I believe was an extraordinary woman. I still wonder why Compression the botanist took Baret along and had her dress as a man, so she could be his companion and assistant (servant/slave?) on the expedition. The ending of the book surprised the heck out of me, and anything else I might say would be a spoiler.
As a reader I was thrown around a lot like Jeanne Baret on the ship. I interacted with this story of the first woman to circumnavigate the globe constantly. We learned a fair amount about her life onboard the ship and her life experiences, but I wanted to know so much more.
Interesting to learn what it was like being onboard a ship in the 18 century with 300 men; I was captivated by the crossing the line (equator) tradition, I wondered about the sexual appetites of the Tahitian women, and felt somehow that view was contrived by the journal authors, so that the "blame" could be placed on the Tahitians and not the French sailors and officers.
Anyway, it was wonderful book, and I would love to see this made into a historical fiction novel. Well written, it would be a fantastic, absorbing, unforgettable tale. But, to say that , perhaps, is to lessen the research and great work Ridley did. Because I made it into a novel in my head anyway. I'd love to read more of Ridley's works, and I will be giving this book as a gift to a few close friends.
My problem, initially, was I found myself continually questioning the author--how could she possibly know this- how could she infer that. Certainly I felt the author was biased, and I expected to be engulfed in some sort of feminist manifesto about a young herb woman who went to sea as a slave for an elite taskmaster botanist. But, the book evolved into an absolutely fascinating story about what in the end I believe was an extraordinary woman. I still wonder why Compression the botanist took Baret along and had her dress as a man, so she could be his companion and assistant (servant/slave?) on the expedition. The ending of the book surprised the heck out of me, and anything else I might say would be a spoiler.
As a reader I was thrown around a lot like Jeanne Baret on the ship. I interacted with this story of the first woman to circumnavigate the globe constantly. We learned a fair amount about her life onboard the ship and her life experiences, but I wanted to know so much more.
Interesting to learn what it was like being onboard a ship in the 18 century with 300 men; I was captivated by the crossing the line (equator) tradition, I wondered about the sexual appetites of the Tahitian women, and felt somehow that view was contrived by the journal authors, so that the "blame" could be placed on the Tahitians and not the French sailors and officers.
Anyway, it was wonderful book, and I would love to see this made into a historical fiction novel. Well written, it would be a fantastic, absorbing, unforgettable tale. But, to say that , perhaps, is to lessen the research and great work Ridley did. Because I made it into a novel in my head anyway. I'd love to read more of Ridley's works, and I will be giving this book as a gift to a few close friends.
August 28, 2011
This is certainly an intriguing story. Jeanne Baret was a French peasant herb woman who was also the work collaborator and mistress of botanist Philibert Commerson. In 1765 she disguised herself as a man and set sail with Commerson on an expedition to circumnavigate the globe. The problem with the book is that there is only a tiny amount of real information about these people and their motivations and what really went on onboard the ship. Unfortunately that doesn't stop Ridley from speculating beyond all reasonableness to give her take on the matter.
Obviously a certain amount of inference is necessary to tell a story about people and events from over 200 years ago. But these kinds of books are based on actual facts in the form of letters and diaries. In this case there is not one word that was written by Baret herself and only a handful of vague references by anyone else. The journal that mentions her the most is completely discounted by Ridley because she doesn't like what he had to say about Baret who she styles as some sort of proto-feminist superwoman. Ridley constantly speculates on how events might have happened or how Baret might have felt about them and then two paragraphs later states these things as fact.
Fascinating subject matter, abysmal journalism.
Obviously a certain amount of inference is necessary to tell a story about people and events from over 200 years ago. But these kinds of books are based on actual facts in the form of letters and diaries. In this case there is not one word that was written by Baret herself and only a handful of vague references by anyone else. The journal that mentions her the most is completely discounted by Ridley because she doesn't like what he had to say about Baret who she styles as some sort of proto-feminist superwoman. Ridley constantly speculates on how events might have happened or how Baret might have felt about them and then two paragraphs later states these things as fact.
Fascinating subject matter, abysmal journalism.
April 18, 2017
This book is about a woman who is poor. Then she meets a botanist. She teaches him all about herbs. They become lovers after his wife dies giving birth. She later becomes pregnant. He has her give the baby up. Then she dresses like a man in order to accompany him on a trip around the world. She has to bind her chest and do heavy physical labor. She eventually is discovered and gang-raped. They give this baby up as well. Overall, very sad. I would not recommend this to people.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 12, 2012
If anyone asked me a month ago what I thought about Jeanne Baret, I would not have known who they were talking about. However after reading The Discovery of Jeanne Baret by Glynis Ridley I can now say that Jeanne Baret was quite a woman. Jeanne lived in the 1700's. This time in history was not kind to women. Woman were thought of as feeble, unintelligent and impassioned. Jeanne Baret was none of these things. She grew up and lived in France until she met Philibert Commerson and became not only his lover but also his assistant on an expedition to take her across the globe. Commerson was a botanist who was enamored with Baret and her knowledge of plants. When King Louis XV ordered an expedition around the world to gather information about medicinal plants and information that would help France become the leading expert in these areas, he appointed Commerson the prestigious position of working on this voyage.
Commerson needed someone knowledgeable and hard working to assist him on this journey. None other could compare to Baret. They devised a plan so that Baret could accompany him on this trip. Baret disguised herself as a man. She took on the arduous task without complaint. She worked harder than most men ever do. Her job was back breaking in miserable conditions. She tried very hard to hide the fact that she was a woman however she didn't fool everyone and because of that she faced dire consequences.
The Discovery of Jeanne Baret is a fantastic read. I don't have a particular love for botany but I love discovering historical gems. Glynis Ridley did a fantastic job with uncovering the mystery of Jeanne Baret. She also gives historical background information and explains as to why something is a big deal or what it means for that period of time. This is important because today we don't face the same restricting conventions that people faced in the past. This book is interesting from cover to cover. It's well written and very informative. I'm so glad I had an opportunity to read this novel. If you love history, botany or love reading about people who defy conventions this is a great book to read.
Commerson needed someone knowledgeable and hard working to assist him on this journey. None other could compare to Baret. They devised a plan so that Baret could accompany him on this trip. Baret disguised herself as a man. She took on the arduous task without complaint. She worked harder than most men ever do. Her job was back breaking in miserable conditions. She tried very hard to hide the fact that she was a woman however she didn't fool everyone and because of that she faced dire consequences.
The Discovery of Jeanne Baret is a fantastic read. I don't have a particular love for botany but I love discovering historical gems. Glynis Ridley did a fantastic job with uncovering the mystery of Jeanne Baret. She also gives historical background information and explains as to why something is a big deal or what it means for that period of time. This is important because today we don't face the same restricting conventions that people faced in the past. This book is interesting from cover to cover. It's well written and very informative. I'm so glad I had an opportunity to read this novel. If you love history, botany or love reading about people who defy conventions this is a great book to read.
May 22, 2025
Por mim isso tem que virar um filme. Terminei pensando o quão trabalhoso deve ter sido escrever esse, a autora se baseia basicamente em fontes manuscritas e, mesmo com partes da história sendo ficcionada ou não, não há dúvida de que Jeanne Baret foi uma mulher extraordinária que sobreviveu a uma provação inimaginável usando sua força e inteligência. É ao mesmo tempo que tão inspirador, um recorte de misoginia.
Numa época onde as grandes navegações eram mais que projetos de vaidade politica mas um imperativo econômico, a botânica Jeanne Baret se tornou a primeira mulher a dar a volta ao mundo, disfarçada como o homem assistente de seu então companheiro, Commerson.
Foi por quase dois anos uma mahu (nome taitiano para travestimento).
"(...) Jeanne não tinha nada a temer no Taiti porque ela era mahu e, portanto, reverenciada”.
Esse livro foi um presente da minha mãe, Lola, que carinhosamente me apelidou de Primavera. A planta Bougainville foi documentada por Jeanne no Rio de Janeiro, durante a navegação, seu nome homenageia o comandante da expedição, Louis-Antoine de Bougainville.
Gostei de saber:
"Jeanne e Commerson notaram um material não familiar usado tanto para saias quanto para tapeçarias cerimoniais: era o tecido "tapa", feito com a casca do figo-corante ou figo-estrangulador (...) O processo de remover a casca da árvore e tratá-la empresta a ela todas as propriedades do papel".
Ridley cita o Foundling Museum.
Entre as décadas de 1740 e 1760, mães deixavam seus bebês no Hospital Foundling (instituição de caridade) junto à um pequeno objeto como forma de identificação, a esperança era que um dia pudessem resgatar seus filhos. Esses objetos hoje compõem o acervo do museu e contam histórias de mães, que como Jeanne Baret, foram forçadas a abrir mão de seus bebês e da vida futura de seus filhos. As mulheres mais pobres deixavam com seus filhos coisas como conchas de noz ou pulseiras de barbante.
Numa época onde as grandes navegações eram mais que projetos de vaidade politica mas um imperativo econômico, a botânica Jeanne Baret se tornou a primeira mulher a dar a volta ao mundo, disfarçada como o homem assistente de seu então companheiro, Commerson.
Foi por quase dois anos uma mahu (nome taitiano para travestimento).
"(...) Jeanne não tinha nada a temer no Taiti porque ela era mahu e, portanto, reverenciada”.
Esse livro foi um presente da minha mãe, Lola, que carinhosamente me apelidou de Primavera. A planta Bougainville foi documentada por Jeanne no Rio de Janeiro, durante a navegação, seu nome homenageia o comandante da expedição, Louis-Antoine de Bougainville.
Gostei de saber:
"Jeanne e Commerson notaram um material não familiar usado tanto para saias quanto para tapeçarias cerimoniais: era o tecido "tapa", feito com a casca do figo-corante ou figo-estrangulador (...) O processo de remover a casca da árvore e tratá-la empresta a ela todas as propriedades do papel".
Ridley cita o Foundling Museum.
Entre as décadas de 1740 e 1760, mães deixavam seus bebês no Hospital Foundling (instituição de caridade) junto à um pequeno objeto como forma de identificação, a esperança era que um dia pudessem resgatar seus filhos. Esses objetos hoje compõem o acervo do museu e contam histórias de mães, que como Jeanne Baret, foram forçadas a abrir mão de seus bebês e da vida futura de seus filhos. As mulheres mais pobres deixavam com seus filhos coisas como conchas de noz ou pulseiras de barbante.
September 21, 2025
Glynis Ridley is an exceptional writer, and this amazing story needed to be honored and told. France should erect a statue in the Jardin des Plantes to honor her courage as well as mental and physical fortitude - to honor her for her many firsts and her botanical accomplishments.
You will see lots of low reviews that take exception to the author’s “extrapolating” and “imagining” what happened to Baret and what she must have felt. But in history-telling which has been dominated by men throughout time, what choice do you have when trying to share the story of a courageous woman like Baret who had no voice or platform of her own, because of her social origins and as a female.
Perhaps it would have been worth the author providing up front a caveat that she was opting for this device of concluding certain things based on overlapping evidence (and a lot of very reasonable imagining) as it does make one pause at times, but it in no way diminishes the masterful job of researching what is available, and assembling the reality as best as she could.
And let’s be honest, as much as we would like to pretend otherwise, historical works at the best of times are a pale, victor’s reflection of the reality we are reading about, and always colored by the author’s worldview and frame of reference.
You will see lots of low reviews that take exception to the author’s “extrapolating” and “imagining” what happened to Baret and what she must have felt. But in history-telling which has been dominated by men throughout time, what choice do you have when trying to share the story of a courageous woman like Baret who had no voice or platform of her own, because of her social origins and as a female.
Perhaps it would have been worth the author providing up front a caveat that she was opting for this device of concluding certain things based on overlapping evidence (and a lot of very reasonable imagining) as it does make one pause at times, but it in no way diminishes the masterful job of researching what is available, and assembling the reality as best as she could.
And let’s be honest, as much as we would like to pretend otherwise, historical works at the best of times are a pale, victor’s reflection of the reality we are reading about, and always colored by the author’s worldview and frame of reference.
June 24, 2019
This was an interesting read, due to the scarcity of source material there's a fair amount of extrapolation. That combined with the storytelling format give this more of an adventure fiction feel. We do have enough of a paper trail to verify that Baret is most probably the first women to sail around the world, between the various accounts and the French government granting her a pension for her achievements.
It's an ugly tale, she was a talented herbalist, and yet she was treated like a beast of burden because of her peasant birth. French nobility for the most part, deserved having their heads chopped off, to the Bastille! When her true sex was revealed, she was also raped and bore a child from that incident. She does make it home eventually and finishes off her life in obscurity.
It's an ugly tale, she was a talented herbalist, and yet she was treated like a beast of burden because of her peasant birth. French nobility for the most part, deserved having their heads chopped off, to the Bastille! When her true sex was revealed, she was also raped and bore a child from that incident. She does make it home eventually and finishes off her life in obscurity.
January 30, 2012
Jeanne Baret pretended to be a young man to work as an assistant to botanist Philibert Commerson on a voyage around the world in 1765. Dressed in men's clothes, she spent over two years as the only woman on a French ship. The French government was especially interested in plants that were spices or had medicinal value. During the sea voyage, Baret did much of the collecting of the specimens since Commerson was suffering from a leg injury.
Jeanne Baret was a French peasant herb woman when she met Commerson a few years prior, and taught him about medicinal plants. He shared his knowledge of classifications of plants with her, and soon they were living and working together in Paris.
I especially enjoyed the descriptions of nature as the ship went through the Straits of Magellan, and during their stop at Tahiti. Baret and Commerson left the ship in Mauritius, and researched the island's plants until Commerson's death. Baret later married and returned by ship to France.
Baret was the first woman to circumnavigate the world, but most people have never heard of her. She has never been given credit for the enormous amount of work she did on the ocean voyage collecting and classifying plants that were new to the Western world. This book is a well-researched book into her life, with many quotes from journals written by the officers on the ship. Unfortunately, very little primary source material mentions Baret, although more is written about Commerson, because women were not supposed to sail on the ship and women were not usually educated in scientific professions in the 18th Century. The book started off a little slow, then picked up as Baret traveled around the world. I would recommend this "first read" book to readers who are interested in history, science, foreign countries, and the achievements of women.
Jeanne Baret was a French peasant herb woman when she met Commerson a few years prior, and taught him about medicinal plants. He shared his knowledge of classifications of plants with her, and soon they were living and working together in Paris.
I especially enjoyed the descriptions of nature as the ship went through the Straits of Magellan, and during their stop at Tahiti. Baret and Commerson left the ship in Mauritius, and researched the island's plants until Commerson's death. Baret later married and returned by ship to France.
Baret was the first woman to circumnavigate the world, but most people have never heard of her. She has never been given credit for the enormous amount of work she did on the ocean voyage collecting and classifying plants that were new to the Western world. This book is a well-researched book into her life, with many quotes from journals written by the officers on the ship. Unfortunately, very little primary source material mentions Baret, although more is written about Commerson, because women were not supposed to sail on the ship and women were not usually educated in scientific professions in the 18th Century. The book started off a little slow, then picked up as Baret traveled around the world. I would recommend this "first read" book to readers who are interested in history, science, foreign countries, and the achievements of women.
May 10, 2012
I enter a lot of giveaways for a lot of different books, but this one, which I won from Linda at Silly Little Mischief is one that I think is the "best" win for me. It isn't necessary my favorite our of all the books I won. But when you compare the likelihood of me discovering it on my own with how much I enjoyed it, the payoff is high.
The book is a biographer of Jeanne Baret, a female botanist who dressed as a man, and without much of the world's knowledge became the first woman to circumvent the world. I always love reading books where I learn new things, and this was such a book for me.
I didn't just learn Jeanne's story, but a brief history of botany, as well as what it was like to sail the world. It also did a good job at imagine what it may have been like to discover new lands that Europeans had never discover. And one thing I especially loved, was there was a brief part about Peter Piper (of the pickled peppers), who I had no idea was a historical figure.
But while there was a lot of historical facts, there was not a lot about Jeanne herself. Yes, there are a few historical documents that mention her, but so much of the book felt like speculation. I would love to be able to know more about her, but unfortunately it doesn't look like there is a lot of information. We do have a few key facts, but without quite a bit of speculation it is hard to tell her story.
Even so I really enjoyed her story as well as the rest of the book. (Although I would have loved to have had a map included so I could easily trace Jeanne's passage around the world.) I did see that the author has another historical book, Clara's Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe, which I think I would love as well, and probably should pick up at some point.
The book is a biographer of Jeanne Baret, a female botanist who dressed as a man, and without much of the world's knowledge became the first woman to circumvent the world. I always love reading books where I learn new things, and this was such a book for me.
I didn't just learn Jeanne's story, but a brief history of botany, as well as what it was like to sail the world. It also did a good job at imagine what it may have been like to discover new lands that Europeans had never discover. And one thing I especially loved, was there was a brief part about Peter Piper (of the pickled peppers), who I had no idea was a historical figure.
But while there was a lot of historical facts, there was not a lot about Jeanne herself. Yes, there are a few historical documents that mention her, but so much of the book felt like speculation. I would love to be able to know more about her, but unfortunately it doesn't look like there is a lot of information. We do have a few key facts, but without quite a bit of speculation it is hard to tell her story.
Even so I really enjoyed her story as well as the rest of the book. (Although I would have loved to have had a map included so I could easily trace Jeanne's passage around the world.) I did see that the author has another historical book, Clara's Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe, which I think I would love as well, and probably should pick up at some point.
May 4, 2011
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
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
December 21, 2011
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.
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.
February 11, 2012
Jeanne Baret was an unusual woman, not just by 18th century standards, but for any time on earth. Disguising herself as a man for a 3 year trip around the world in a ship roughly the size of a big townhouse, packed to the gunwales with male sailors, servants and officers was an act of bravery or magical thinking or extreme stupidity. We don't know what was in her mind because there are no accounts of her adventure written by her. She's been erased from history. Until this book. Part historical account of French efforts to play catch-up to the explorations engaged by other countries, part redemption of Ms. Baret's work as an herb woman, part outrage at the way history is handled when women are involved, part denunciation of those involved in protecting their careers by denying Baret's gender, part botany lesson, this book is at times jaw-dropping, and other times frustrating. Ridley has a tendency to support conjecture about events with ersatz proof taken from fiction set in the 1760s. That is her prerogative as a writer, but it does not serve the history. The life of Jeanne Baret is fascinating, and we can endlessly speculate what possessed this working class woman to undertake such a perilous adventure. I wish we could know.
May 11, 2011
I loved reading about this woman, who was the first to circumnavigate the globe. Her life was simply amazing, and although parts of it are so tragically sad, it seems she had a happy ending. The fact that her story is known at all is quite miraculous as there are so few primary sources related to her life. I wish there were more and that the reader could really get to know this amazing woman!
The author does a good job of piecing together scant information to form this story. Some of her information about the protagonist is vague and I feel the author takes some liberties, at times, in interpreting this knowledge.
This era of Western "discovery" is really fascinating to me in general, and there are few stories about women during this historical period, so in that sense this book was gratifying and interesting.
December 17, 2012
When I began this book, I was quickly drawn in by the story of Jeanne Baret who was an herbwoman in France who circumnavigated the globe with Bouganvillea's expedition. The writing is well researched and Ridley knows how to make the past approachable, yet I finished this book feeling unsure. My uncertainty is due to how Ridley presents the discovery of Baret's sex during the journey as she puts a modern reading of the historical sources. This can be important but as most of the book is spent explaining how the society that Baret lived existed, its jarring to suddenly read the author diagnosing how Baret is feeling and acting across the centuries. I would recommend this book as the history is amazing and I'm glad to know Baret's story, I only wish that Ridley had used a lighter hand in terms of her own readings of the past.
Read
December 29, 2012While Jeanne Baret is a fascinating subject and admirable heroine for any woman, the execution of The Discovery of Jeanne Baret: A Story of Science, the High Seas, and the First Woman to Circumnavigate the Globe suffers as Glynis Ridley interjects too much supposition for a woman who left virtually no paper trail. No one could possibly know her thoughts or her feelings, and yet that is precisely how Ms. Ridley fills the pages. There is a bit too much reading between the lines on firsthand accounts of the journey as it is, and the insertion of emotions and thought processes for a woman who will always remain a shadowy figure in history compounds the issue. Unfortunately, it is excellent historical research undone by the author's personal feelings interspersed throughout the pages.
June 15, 2011
Fascinating and dramatic narrative history of the first French-sponsored circumnavigation of the globe, of which 1 person was a woman--Jeanne Baret--disguised as a man. I wish I could say hilarious hijinks ensue, but there is nothing hilarious about them. The quest for botanical treasures and new land for the French empire have remained to Western history, but Glynis Ridley does a phenomenal job in recreating this woman amongst "civilized" men and "noble" savages, though much of it is psychological recreation of Baret's thoughts and emotions. Fascinating read nonetheless, and can highly recommend it.
August 20, 2011
Bit of a shame to give this book only 3 stars as it isn't that bad. I learned a lot. It's wonderfully peppered with historical facts and I liked that about it, and it was written just fine. My major issue with it was the accuracy. It had the feel of a book where the author only had limited research material to go off and therefore imagined, speculated and surmised the rest. She took small snippets of information and built whole fabricated stories around them.
The book was plied with guess work and I don't think she should have taken so much creative license.
The book was plied with guess work and I don't think she should have taken so much creative license.
June 12, 2016
This is "real" nonfiction, and so was rather... dry... compared to the last few creative-fiction-slash-fiction-about-real-people books I've read.
It was a very well-researched book about a woman who performed an admirable feat (especially back then, but even these days), a woman who has mostly been lost to history but who shouldn't have been. I learned a lot, but it definitely didn't have the emotional draw of Under the Wide and Starry Sky or Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy.
It was a very well-researched book about a woman who performed an admirable feat (especially back then, but even these days), a woman who has mostly been lost to history but who shouldn't have been. I learned a lot, but it definitely didn't have the emotional draw of Under the Wide and Starry Sky or Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy.
July 10, 2014
Probably because I'm more into gardening, the thoughts from this book recently popped into my mind. Jeanne Baret is a woman botanist and made many scientific contributions to many places on her voyage. Super interesting read.
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June 12, 2018The title of this book has a double meaning and Jeanne Baret has an intriguing story. The "discovery" could refer to her discovery of the bougainvillea plant (among many others) or it could mean the "discovery" that she was a woman hiding her identity as a woman on the expedition of Louis-Antoine de Bougainvillea in the 1800s.
The short story: Baret signed on to the Bougainvillea expedition in 1766 as the "assistant" to the expedition's naturalist Philibert de Commerson. During the voyage, she does most of the hunting for plants and animals at Commerson's direction (he sat on the beach and watched her). It's not clear who actually discovered the bougainvillea plant (Commerson gave it to Bougainvillea and named it after him).
At some point in the voyage, she is discovered to be a woman. She may have been "violated" on an island in Papua New Guinea. She and Commerson were put off the voyage in Mauritius. After his death, she married and traveled back to France.
Ridley does a good job of presenting the conflicting evidence and letting the reader draw conclusions. She spends some time discussing what must have happened in various circumstances, from her detailed research into 18th-century history. For example, she describes how Jeanne must have bound her breasts to avoid discovery. Ridley says, that while she was climbing over rocks to find plants, "Sweat must have soaked the linen strips binding her chest as she struggled with the heavy leather satchel containing food, knives, a spade, some small glass vials for seeds and soil specimens, and matchbox-sized carrying cases for insect life." I liked this details and I can see her struggling while Commerson sits idly on the beach (he had a bad leg) directing his "beast of burden."
In the major point of discussion about when Jeanne was discovered to be a woman, Ridley sagely lets the journals of the ship's party tell their stories. Then she speculates on what might actually have happened and why. It made sense to me. We'll never know, but this book comes as close as anything else to an account of this amazing woman's life.
The short story: Baret signed on to the Bougainvillea expedition in 1766 as the "assistant" to the expedition's naturalist Philibert de Commerson. During the voyage, she does most of the hunting for plants and animals at Commerson's direction (he sat on the beach and watched her). It's not clear who actually discovered the bougainvillea plant (Commerson gave it to Bougainvillea and named it after him).
At some point in the voyage, she is discovered to be a woman. She may have been "violated" on an island in Papua New Guinea. She and Commerson were put off the voyage in Mauritius. After his death, she married and traveled back to France.
Ridley does a good job of presenting the conflicting evidence and letting the reader draw conclusions. She spends some time discussing what must have happened in various circumstances, from her detailed research into 18th-century history. For example, she describes how Jeanne must have bound her breasts to avoid discovery. Ridley says, that while she was climbing over rocks to find plants, "Sweat must have soaked the linen strips binding her chest as she struggled with the heavy leather satchel containing food, knives, a spade, some small glass vials for seeds and soil specimens, and matchbox-sized carrying cases for insect life." I liked this details and I can see her struggling while Commerson sits idly on the beach (he had a bad leg) directing his "beast of burden."
In the major point of discussion about when Jeanne was discovered to be a woman, Ridley sagely lets the journals of the ship's party tell their stories. Then she speculates on what might actually have happened and why. It made sense to me. We'll never know, but this book comes as close as anything else to an account of this amazing woman's life.
January 30, 2019
This book seems like it would have much to recommend it: a woman disguised as a man on a sailing vessel, the 18th century age of exploration, pre-Revolution life in Paris. And yet, I crawled through this book. It’s been a week and I made it only halfway through. The book is 250 pages long. I did not finish. I learned a few things though. Being a woman disguised as a man on a ship full of men on a three-year circumnavigation of the globe sucks. Being on a ship during this time sucks. Being a poor woman in France sucks. It sucks so much that if you were stuck with an unwanted baby, you could leave it in the street to die and have the rats have at it: that’s how much life sucked. The only thing that doesn’t suck is being a wealthy male.
While there was a lot of interesting information, the writing was choppy and speculative. Reading three pages took forever, and neither of the book’s focus— Jeanne Baret or her arrogant botanist lover/boss are very likable. Ridley has to reconstruct Baret’s life as there is very little left behind about her. While she did much to explain what her life might have been like, she did not bring her to life for the reader. I felt like I was learning about someone in the abstract. My goal was to persevere and finish, but my cat kept pulling my bookmark out— a not so subtle hint that it wasn’t worth the time to finish.
While there was a lot of interesting information, the writing was choppy and speculative. Reading three pages took forever, and neither of the book’s focus— Jeanne Baret or her arrogant botanist lover/boss are very likable. Ridley has to reconstruct Baret’s life as there is very little left behind about her. While she did much to explain what her life might have been like, she did not bring her to life for the reader. I felt like I was learning about someone in the abstract. My goal was to persevere and finish, but my cat kept pulling my bookmark out— a not so subtle hint that it wasn’t worth the time to finish.
June 15, 2024
Interesting but flawed. The research that went into this book is clearly very extensive, resulting in a story being pieced together from people who didn't want to tell Baret's story and between seemingly conflicting information. I admire the amount of research that went into this book. However, the issue with the book is that very very little can actually be said about Baret. Most of which is known for sure is unhelpful towards understanding the character, and there are no primary sources from her. While I admire the author for putting together a tale, and figuring out historical details from conflicting information, there can be no character development or personality without becoming reasonably fictional. I grew tired of being told that I had to presume that she felt that way, or presume that something happened, throughout the entire book. It felt like most of the book was stating what is unknown rather than what is known about Baret. To fix these problems I would have advised the writer to shorten it significantly, provide interpretations based on evidence but not drag out the examination of possible events. Based on the amount of information that is known or can be reasoned through I would think that only a 100 page book could be written, not a 200 page book. The surrounding historical context also began to bore me through wave after wave of place names and people.
February 1, 2022
As a horticulturist, I was fascinated by the botanical portions of the book. Ridley did her research on how herbalists generally lived and worked in the 1700's, and how common people lived in Burgundy, France. She extrapolated this onto the main character, Jeanne Baret. She made it clear she was extrapolating, and I am fine with this. Simultaneously, while working as a plantswoman, Baret's personal life was challenging. Her status did not entitle her to marry her lover, and the birth of their child was not a joy; the child was given away. A woman living on a ship with many men was also problematic and led to hardship on many levels. I noticed one botanical error- the hawthorn tree is incorrectly spelled in the book as Hawthorne. This made me wonder if there were any botanists who reviewed the book. It is not something that would have been overlooked. Still, if believable, I was impressed by the amount of research into the officers on board Baret's ship, the condition of ships in that day, how people lived on the ships, what they ate, how people discharged their waste products on board, etc.
September 30, 2017
Eh, it was OK. There was not nearly enough botanical discussion for me. Also, the actual information about Jeanne Baret is rather slim so there much more information about the trip around the world than Baret herself. The author writes that there are no known journals from Baret and her lover, Commerson, never mentioned her in his writing. However, the author presents a lot of information about how Jeanne felt, what she did, and why she did things that are completely speculative but not necessarily stated as such. I have nothing against speculation, but I prefer that it not be stated as fact. The bare facts of Baret's journey are interesting and what she endured certainly awe-inspiring. The documents and information written about her (not all of which are reliable) are definitely enough to intrigue any researcher. Personally, I would have enjoyed the book more if it were about 2/3 the length or had more about the botany of their trip.
July 4, 2019
A great depiction of first woman to circumnavigate the globe. Her journey is described in as much detail as possible by the author’s collection of several diaries and civil documents and knowledge of the societal norms of the 18th century. Truly a remarkable achievement by Baret given her status as poor “herb woman.” In a time when women weren’t allowed on large sailing vessels she camouflaged herself as a man and the servant of a botanist who needed her assistance collecting plants and animals for identification. She suffered extreme hardship in terms of the physical labor she did — but also emotionally. When she was found to be a woman she was gang raped and also dealt with daily tiresome sexist behavior on the part of the sailors. She also due to her situation ended up giving two children up for adoption. She had to always be on her guard yet lived bravely. So glad her story was told. Thank you, Glynis Ridley.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 25, 2019
I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. Baret's life was put together using numerous journals on record. This book read like an entertaining movie more than a story on science and discovery. Obviously she defied most expectations for a woman of her day, mostly because she pretended to be man on the "adventure" this book discusses.
She probably discovered SO MANY plants and animals and insects as an assistant for a ship biologist (ALSO HER LOVER DUN DUN DUN) and got no credit for anything she did. Her lover worked with Linnaeus! (You know, how everything is scientifically named and categorized). Essentially this is a story of a normal women born in the wrong time and it just depresses you and makes you super proud all at once. Ugh it was JUST SO GOOD. I explained it poorly but I SWEAR ITS GREAT. Picked this up at The Crow bookstore in Vermont.
She probably discovered SO MANY plants and animals and insects as an assistant for a ship biologist (ALSO HER LOVER DUN DUN DUN) and got no credit for anything she did. Her lover worked with Linnaeus! (You know, how everything is scientifically named and categorized). Essentially this is a story of a normal women born in the wrong time and it just depresses you and makes you super proud all at once. Ugh it was JUST SO GOOD. I explained it poorly but I SWEAR ITS GREAT. Picked this up at The Crow bookstore in Vermont.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2019
I felt this book left me with nearly equal feelings of enjoyment and irritation. It is not the author’s fault that there is just not that much information available. That she uses a combination of analysis and imagination to try to fill in the gaps is understandable, but at times she really unleashes the imagination to a disturbing extent. At a time where spelling of everything is consistently variable, she speculates that two r’s In the main character’s name is hard evidence of ptsd due to gang rape. Whilst she makes every allowance for questionable behavior of Baret, she has no compunction speculating that all the male characters are guilty of a variety of unseemly behaviors ranging from mild selfishness to taking part in and covering up said rape. I’m not saying there weren’t some who were, that seems likely, but she seems to use a broad brush
September 1, 2021
The story of Jeanne Baret is indeed fascinating. What a woman! All throughout I kept asking myself if I could ever have had the courage or physical strength to undergo Baret's astounding adventures. The answer is 'no'. When I ordered the book I thought I was buying a historical fiction novel, however it was a nonfiction account - well-told nonetheless - but because of my misunderstanding, I found some of the chapters overloaded with detailed information that did not particularly interest me and I skimmed over these sections. The book was wonderfully researched and brought out the plight of women in that era in stark relief. The tale was intriguing enough for me to want to read to the end to find out how Baret's final years played out. Ridley did a masterful job in the re-telling of this brave woman's journey.
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