The Rarest Fruit
The Life of Edmond Albius
Published on 1. May 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
978-1-7398423-8-3 (ISBN)
Description
1829. Sainte-Suzanne, Bourbon Island. A Black orphan, a slave of only seven weeks, is placed - as if by fate - into the arms of Ferreol Beaumont, a botanist with a passion for orchids. He raises this child, Edmond, teaching him all he knows of the lush plants that populate his tropical garden.
At twelve years old, the illiterate young prodigy unlocks the secret to hand-pollinating the vanilla orchid, revolutionizing not only the island's economy but French patisserie, perfumes & more. While his discovery brings prosperity to others, the exhilarating aroma of the vanilla flower soon dissipates for Edmond as a bitter reality stretches out before him - his brilliance unrecognized, his name forgotten.
A caustic look at the nineteenth-century history of Reunion Island under French colonial rule. For lovers of history, botany and vanilla ice cream.
At twelve years old, the illiterate young prodigy unlocks the secret to hand-pollinating the vanilla orchid, revolutionizing not only the island's economy but French patisserie, perfumes & more. While his discovery brings prosperity to others, the exhilarating aroma of the vanilla flower soon dissipates for Edmond as a bitter reality stretches out before him - his brilliance unrecognized, his name forgotten.
A caustic look at the nineteenth-century history of Reunion Island under French colonial rule. For lovers of history, botany and vanilla ice cream.
Reviews / Votes
'A dark historical tale, an exotic island in itself, full of colour and scent and lit by flashes of irony and wit. This is the fascinating true story of the orphan born into slavery who made possible the vanilla in your ice-cream.' William Wall'The Reunionese novelist writes in elegant prose, with an agile rhythm & a playful spirit. She has the ability to sketch a whole life of hopes & defeats in a single paragraph.' Le Monde
'A two-century-old story brought back to life by [Belem]'s sharp, voluptuous, no-nonsense pen ... in this fictionalized biography blending fantasy, Creole mythology & Reunionese folklore.' Le Point
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Ireland
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
255 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-7398423-8-3 (9781739842383)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
05/2025
Bullaun Press
€8.99
Available for download
Persons
Award-winning author Gaelle Belem from Reunion has published two novels with Gallimard - Un monstre est la, derriere la porte (2020) & Le fruit le plus rare (2023). Her third book, Sud sauvage is forthcoming April 2025. She works as a juvenile court judge as well as teaching Latin, Geography & History.
Content
1
EDMOND
Sainte-Suzanne, start of the 19th century
'Back then, that small Black Creole, my sister's slave, was my little pet and was with me constantly.'
2
EDMOND DISCOVERS BOTANY
Ferreol's garden, 1833
A stone's throw from a field of watermelons and voracious blackbirds, behind a gate as grey as a donkey, there was a strange garden that everyone called 'Ferreol's garden'.
3
EDMOND DISCOVERS THE GENESIS OF PLANTS
Garden of Eden, golden age
At dawn on the third day, God created plants.
4
EDMOND: BOTANIST AND DISSIDENT
Ferreol's sitting room, one stormy evening
A botanist, like you!
5
FERREOL BELLIER-BEAUMONT
Bellevue district, end of the 18th century
His first picture was of a rose surrounded by pumpkins, an absolute atrocity painted directly on the window curtains. From this picture, which everyone nevertheless considered sublime, he cultivated a firm promise: he would be a botanist.
6
MONSIEUR AND MADAME DEJEAN
Quartier-Francais, 1823
Monsieur and Madame Dejean died on the same day, but not from the same cause.
7
EDMOND AS SEEN BY VOLCY-FOCARD
A record and recollections, 1830-1840
Later, when they were crippled with pain, reeking of sweat and smelling like the earth, they would still remember him as an intelligent child.
8
CHARLES MORREN
Belgium, 1837
In the beginning were pumpkins and glasshouses.
9
HERNAN CORTES
Mexico-Seville, 16th century
Among the undergrowth in the Aztec Empire, baskets overflowing with vanilla were taken down to the city.
10
VANILLA FLOWERS
Bellevue, 1837-1840
Sounding sometimes like a hen, sometimes like a mouse rooting around in a mound of dry leaves, he badgers the vanilla flowers, his hands full of pollen.
11
INCONCLUSIVE TRIALS
1841, annus horribilis
Still nothing.
12
VANILLA PLANIFOLIA
1841, a prosperous year
His nose covered in pollen, he let out a cry of joy: 'I've found it!'
13
EDMOND TELLS FERREOL THE INCREDIBLE NEWS
Vanilla plot, end of 1841
'I couldn't remember what he'd learnt when, that same year at the latest, I was out walking with my faithful companion and spotted a tightly knotted pod on the only vanilla plant I had at the time. I was surprised and pointed it out to him. He told me that it was he who had pollinated the flower. I refused to believe him.'
14
FERREOL THE PATIENT
On his sickbed, 1842
Ferreol is dying of who-knows-what illness, contracted in his orchard where dozens of green pods hang.
15
THE BELLIER-BEAUMONTS
From Burgundy to Sainte-Suzanne
17th to 19th century
They developed a passion for windswept wilderness, shores dripping with sugar, the abundance of this white gold. It was settled. They would leave for this island that was still only a southern dot on a portolan chart.
16
THE NEWS SPREADS
Bourbon Island, 1842
'That is how news of the interesting discovery spread quickly from its point of origin throughout our small country.'
17
EDMOND ON TOUR
Windward Coast, 1843
Treated with 'a level of care not usually shown towards slaves', he no longer walked anywhere:'a carriage or a horse was sent for him'.
18
EXOTIC VANILLA
VS COLONIAL VANILLA
Atlantic coast, middle of the 19th century
In all the big cities by the Atlantic - from Bordeaux to Lorient - vanilla-flavoured desserts are the only topic of conversation: vanilla slices, vanilla macaroons, vanilla tarts, vanilla shortbread, vanilla meringues.
19
MONSIEUR DE BEAUMONT
On top of the world, middle of the 19th century
Vanilla - it was me!
20
EDMOND AND ICARUS
High, very high
Once upon a time there was an exceptional young man. Curious and ambitious, he was sent mad by studying, the humanities, and his daily dose of mathematics and ancient Greek.
21
NO, NO, NO
Slave hut, 1843-1848
Sic vos non vobis, laboratis, servi.
Thus do you work, slaves, but not for yourselves.
22
THE GRAND WALTZ OF NAMES
Town hall of Sainte-Suzanne,
22 November 1848
Edmond, citizen and son of the late Pamphile and Melise, presented himself at the town hall, this Wednesday 22 November, to receive a name.
23
EDMOND AND SARDA GARRIGA
Place du Gouvernement, also known as Le Barachois, 20 December 1848
Free men, did you say?
24
EDMOND HITS ROCK BOTTOM
Rock Bottom, 1849-1850
Edmond is living by a river, on the verge of ruin.
25
EDMOND THE COOK
Rue du Four-a-Chaux, Saint-Denis, 1851
While waiting for Edmond's trial, the executioner was paid his dues and a gallows erected.
26
EDMOND IS SENTENCED TO PRISON
Gaol on rue du Conseil, Saint-Denis,
1851-1852
All of the prisoners laugh until their sides hurt when Edmond tells them that he was the one who discovered how to hand-pollinate vanilla flowers.
27
EDMOND LEAVES PRISON
The north of Bourbon Island, 1852-1855
Edmond, come out!
28
EDMOND BECOMES A GROWER
Sainte-Suzanne, 1855-1862
World! Here I am!
29
ANTOINE LOUIS ROUSSIN,
LITHOGRAPHER
Artist's studio, 1862-1863
This is how people knew what Edmond looked like in an era when men still didn't know how to smile broadly, as they didn't suspect that happiness could exist.
30
CLAUDE RICHARD
Jardin du Roy, 1862
Vanilla - it was him!
31
EDMOND MEETS
MARIE-PAULINE BASSANA
Commune-Carron, 1869
Something reignites in him, something that was cold and dry, a desert full of darkness. Edmond, wounded in a war known as life, begins to smile again in the company of a woman.
32
EDMOND'S FATHER-IN-LAW
India, 19th century
Worse than war, there were public embraces,trade agreements, mace and the customary peppercorns.
33
EDMOND AND MARIE-PAULINE BASSANA GET MARRIED
Wedding reception, 1871
Love is a simpering form of death.
34
YEARS OF MOURNING
Sainte-Suzanne, 1876-1880
While under the Milky Way cyclones were furiously driving against the walls, Edmond was leading a life of restraint in a thatched house with a creaking door.
35
EDMOND'S END
Sainte-Suzanne Hospice, 1880
Thus passes the glory of the world.
EDMOND
Sainte-Suzanne, start of the 19th century
'Back then, that small Black Creole, my sister's slave, was my little pet and was with me constantly.'
2
EDMOND DISCOVERS BOTANY
Ferreol's garden, 1833
A stone's throw from a field of watermelons and voracious blackbirds, behind a gate as grey as a donkey, there was a strange garden that everyone called 'Ferreol's garden'.
3
EDMOND DISCOVERS THE GENESIS OF PLANTS
Garden of Eden, golden age
At dawn on the third day, God created plants.
4
EDMOND: BOTANIST AND DISSIDENT
Ferreol's sitting room, one stormy evening
A botanist, like you!
5
FERREOL BELLIER-BEAUMONT
Bellevue district, end of the 18th century
His first picture was of a rose surrounded by pumpkins, an absolute atrocity painted directly on the window curtains. From this picture, which everyone nevertheless considered sublime, he cultivated a firm promise: he would be a botanist.
6
MONSIEUR AND MADAME DEJEAN
Quartier-Francais, 1823
Monsieur and Madame Dejean died on the same day, but not from the same cause.
7
EDMOND AS SEEN BY VOLCY-FOCARD
A record and recollections, 1830-1840
Later, when they were crippled with pain, reeking of sweat and smelling like the earth, they would still remember him as an intelligent child.
8
CHARLES MORREN
Belgium, 1837
In the beginning were pumpkins and glasshouses.
9
HERNAN CORTES
Mexico-Seville, 16th century
Among the undergrowth in the Aztec Empire, baskets overflowing with vanilla were taken down to the city.
10
VANILLA FLOWERS
Bellevue, 1837-1840
Sounding sometimes like a hen, sometimes like a mouse rooting around in a mound of dry leaves, he badgers the vanilla flowers, his hands full of pollen.
11
INCONCLUSIVE TRIALS
1841, annus horribilis
Still nothing.
12
VANILLA PLANIFOLIA
1841, a prosperous year
His nose covered in pollen, he let out a cry of joy: 'I've found it!'
13
EDMOND TELLS FERREOL THE INCREDIBLE NEWS
Vanilla plot, end of 1841
'I couldn't remember what he'd learnt when, that same year at the latest, I was out walking with my faithful companion and spotted a tightly knotted pod on the only vanilla plant I had at the time. I was surprised and pointed it out to him. He told me that it was he who had pollinated the flower. I refused to believe him.'
14
FERREOL THE PATIENT
On his sickbed, 1842
Ferreol is dying of who-knows-what illness, contracted in his orchard where dozens of green pods hang.
15
THE BELLIER-BEAUMONTS
From Burgundy to Sainte-Suzanne
17th to 19th century
They developed a passion for windswept wilderness, shores dripping with sugar, the abundance of this white gold. It was settled. They would leave for this island that was still only a southern dot on a portolan chart.
16
THE NEWS SPREADS
Bourbon Island, 1842
'That is how news of the interesting discovery spread quickly from its point of origin throughout our small country.'
17
EDMOND ON TOUR
Windward Coast, 1843
Treated with 'a level of care not usually shown towards slaves', he no longer walked anywhere:'a carriage or a horse was sent for him'.
18
EXOTIC VANILLA
VS COLONIAL VANILLA
Atlantic coast, middle of the 19th century
In all the big cities by the Atlantic - from Bordeaux to Lorient - vanilla-flavoured desserts are the only topic of conversation: vanilla slices, vanilla macaroons, vanilla tarts, vanilla shortbread, vanilla meringues.
19
MONSIEUR DE BEAUMONT
On top of the world, middle of the 19th century
Vanilla - it was me!
20
EDMOND AND ICARUS
High, very high
Once upon a time there was an exceptional young man. Curious and ambitious, he was sent mad by studying, the humanities, and his daily dose of mathematics and ancient Greek.
21
NO, NO, NO
Slave hut, 1843-1848
Sic vos non vobis, laboratis, servi.
Thus do you work, slaves, but not for yourselves.
22
THE GRAND WALTZ OF NAMES
Town hall of Sainte-Suzanne,
22 November 1848
Edmond, citizen and son of the late Pamphile and Melise, presented himself at the town hall, this Wednesday 22 November, to receive a name.
23
EDMOND AND SARDA GARRIGA
Place du Gouvernement, also known as Le Barachois, 20 December 1848
Free men, did you say?
24
EDMOND HITS ROCK BOTTOM
Rock Bottom, 1849-1850
Edmond is living by a river, on the verge of ruin.
25
EDMOND THE COOK
Rue du Four-a-Chaux, Saint-Denis, 1851
While waiting for Edmond's trial, the executioner was paid his dues and a gallows erected.
26
EDMOND IS SENTENCED TO PRISON
Gaol on rue du Conseil, Saint-Denis,
1851-1852
All of the prisoners laugh until their sides hurt when Edmond tells them that he was the one who discovered how to hand-pollinate vanilla flowers.
27
EDMOND LEAVES PRISON
The north of Bourbon Island, 1852-1855
Edmond, come out!
28
EDMOND BECOMES A GROWER
Sainte-Suzanne, 1855-1862
World! Here I am!
29
ANTOINE LOUIS ROUSSIN,
LITHOGRAPHER
Artist's studio, 1862-1863
This is how people knew what Edmond looked like in an era when men still didn't know how to smile broadly, as they didn't suspect that happiness could exist.
30
CLAUDE RICHARD
Jardin du Roy, 1862
Vanilla - it was him!
31
EDMOND MEETS
MARIE-PAULINE BASSANA
Commune-Carron, 1869
Something reignites in him, something that was cold and dry, a desert full of darkness. Edmond, wounded in a war known as life, begins to smile again in the company of a woman.
32
EDMOND'S FATHER-IN-LAW
India, 19th century
Worse than war, there were public embraces,trade agreements, mace and the customary peppercorns.
33
EDMOND AND MARIE-PAULINE BASSANA GET MARRIED
Wedding reception, 1871
Love is a simpering form of death.
34
YEARS OF MOURNING
Sainte-Suzanne, 1876-1880
While under the Milky Way cyclones were furiously driving against the walls, Edmond was leading a life of restraint in a thatched house with a creaking door.
35
EDMOND'S END
Sainte-Suzanne Hospice, 1880
Thus passes the glory of the world.