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

This book tells a really amazing story. A scientific expedition from France heads to Peru where each member of the team undergoes sometimes unbelievable hardships in pursuit of their research. But the most amazing story of all, to my mind, is the title story: one of the French scientists marries a local girl (and at 13 she was a girl), who, twenty three years later sets off across the Amazon to be reunited with him.

I would not want to trek the Amazon today, and if I did I would have the luxury of GPS, weapons, maps, pants, knowledge that people had succeeded before me; she had none of these things. Of the 30 people she set off with (most of them servants and slaves) only four survived. The other three survivors took the only watercraft show more and traveled that way. She hiked through the Amazon for weeks until she was rescued by a native couple.

Whitaker does a great job of threading together stories from the scientific exploration, the personalities of the individuals, the love affair, the politics, the horrible treatment of anyone not an elite Spaniard in Colonial Peru, and the state of nature in the Amazon into one gripping story.

I don't want to say much more because I'm afraid I would spoil the book for anyone planning to read it, but I really encourage you to read it! I found it especially fascinating to learn more about the extremely limited roles women were allowed to have in Colonial Peru and to see how one woman broke through those restrictions in one really dramatic way. show less

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 show more 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. show less

This has already been fairly well reviewed by others, save two observations. Firstly the science is done very well indeed, but this is no primer in geodesy and astronomy. That's to say if you aren't already at ease with arc seconds you'll likely find yourself a little at sea. Secondly it has to be noted that he story of Isabel Grameson's survival in the Amazon is as well documented here as the source documents allow. Which means that the author spends as many words on it as can be profitably spent, and no more. The bulk of the book is actually devoted to the story of the science and of the history of Latin America.

The publisher seems to have chosen to lay emphasis on the romance, murder and miraculous survival in the wilderness aspects show more of the story. No doubt this is good for sales, but some folk might reasonably feel they were not sufficiently warned that this is a very serious book indeed. But for those who enjoy this sort of thing this book it is a real gem. To my mind this is streets ahead of Dava Sobel's 'Longitude', much more readable than Alder's 'The Measure of All Things' and at least the equal of Winchester's 'The Map That Changed the World'. Highly recommended. show less

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 show more 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. show less

The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon by Robert Whitaker is definitely an interesting tale. However, the title and the description on the book jacket are a bit misleading. The book jacket says that the book is about Isabelle Godin, who follows her husband down the Amazon after 20 years of separation. The thing is, that portion of the story doesn't even start to happen until after page 200.

The first part of the book tells the tale of the original trip that brought her husband, Jean Godin, to Ecuador. It's well-written and held my attention. I found the information provided to be interesting and fascinating, it just doesn't include a lot about Isabelle Godin until later in the book.

It's still a very show more interesting tale about exploration, murder, intrigue and a side note of love and female ingenuity. If you're interested in South American history and the history of the men who were attempting to plot out exactly how large our planet is and what constitutes a degree of latitude or longitude, this is definitely worth reading. If you were looking for more of a biography about Isabelle Godin and are not interested in the history and scientific discoveries, this book is not for you. show less

More than love, murder, or survival put together, this was a book about science and exploration. I mean, ok and all, sure. It was done in the same tradition as Dava Sobel's books, and there were a lot of parallels (no pun intended, ha!) between this book and Longitude. But, seriously, don't tell me it's about love when love takes up about ten pages. Don't tell me it's about murder when it takes about two seconds to describe the murder. It could just have been about survival in the Amazon & I still would have been interested.

More than love, murder, or survival put together, this was a book about science and exploration. I mean, ok and all, sure. It was done in the same tradition as Dava Sobel's books, and there were a lot of parallels (no pun intended, ha!) between this book and Longitude. But, seriously, don't tell me it's about love when love takes up about ten pages. Don't tell me it's about murder when it takes about two seconds to describe the murder. It could just have been about survival in the Amazon & I still would have been interested.