THE RAREST FRUIT is a wonderful novel full of remarkable and well-placed sensory details. There's almost an old-fashioned quality to the prose, which I loved. The narrative is rich and layered. I found the novel to be nicely-paced and carefully-plotted. The author never lets historical facts or research get in the way of the story but rather ensures that the extensive research complements the story. I will look forward to more from this author.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance e-galley; all opinions in my review are 100% my own.

I do enjoy a bit of historical fiction.

The Rarest Fruit tells the true story of Edmond Albius who was born a slave in Bourbon (now Réunion), a French colony in the Indian Ocean.

Edmond is orphaned at birth but he becomes almost a ward of a local landowner and botanist, Ferréol Bellier-Beaumont. As he grows up Edmond proves a very willing and talented student who finally proves his worth by discovering the secret of pollinating the vanilla orchid to produce pods.

Gaëlle Bélem fills in the extensively missing history of Edmond with an entertaining history of the slave whose endeavours made a lot of vanilla growers extremely wealthy in the 1800s. Of course, being a slave Edmond sees none of the profits and the story is necessarily one of inequality.

I knew nothing of Edmond Albius before I read this but it's a fascinating story. I'd definitely recommend it for fans of historical fiction or anyone who enjoys an interesting story.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Europa Editions for the advance review copy.

This was a very quick read and overall pretty interesting- Edmond, orphaned son of two slaves in 19th Century Reunion, discovers at twelve how to pollinate the vanilla plant… I know right, what a random topic for me to read about! But also kind of bizarre timing because my previous book was about the young boy from the slums who, in 19th century London, discovered how to read the ancient tablets of Mesopotamia. So many diamonds in the rough!

But I digress. This book felt like it wasn’t sure whether it wanted to be strictly non-fiction, or to read more like a novel. At times it was a bit dry and just felt like it was stating the facts, and it was often a bit meandering and difficult to follow within this. I received a copy from NetGalley and in all honesty if it wasn’t a review copy, I probably would have put it down after a few pages.

fast-paced historical fiction about a very interesting historical event. almost too fast paced at times but even when it feels unsteady it all is quite stable. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

The Rarest Fruit follows the life of Edmond Albius, a twelve-year-old born into slavery in La Réunion, who discovered the secret of vanilla pollination. Until Edmond, no one had been able to grow vanilla beans in the two centuries since the plant had been brought over to Europe by the Conquistadors.

At times the writing was more stylized and at others it was a much more pared back reconstruction of historical documents. The blend between the two really worked for me. This is my favorite book I've read so far this year.

Told in a highly florid, baroque style, The Rarest Fruit is a creative non-fiction/fantasy based on the life of Edmond Albius, a Creold man who figured out how to pollinate vanilla, setting off a craze for the spice around the world. I read this in English, and there are times when the translation feels awkward and not-quite-right, but I haven't gotten a French copy to compare. At the beginning of the book through about the middle, it's odd enough to distract from the overall experience, but then it smooths out in the second half. Apart from that, it's a feast for readers who like lots of description and historical novels/fanfic.