Round the World: A Life of Jeanne Baret

Discover Jeanne Baret, the first woman to sail around the world. Born in 18th-century France, Jeanne seems destined for a life as an ordinary peasant, a short one of hard work and mere subsistence. However, early tragedy drives her to seek a life beyond any peasant’s wildest imaginings. Curious and daring, she becomes the student, teacher, and lover of one of France’s most eminent botanists, Philibert Commerson. With him, she explores Paris and meets some of the Enlightenment’s most influential thinkers. When Commerson is chosen to sail with France’s first circumnavigation of the world, Jeanne joins him as his assistant – disguised as a boy. Together they embark on a remarkable and dangerous journey, creating one of history’s strangest and most compelling true stories.

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