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+ la belle étoile
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- Book Synopsis
- à la belle étoile is a blazing narrative of female self-empowerment and survival in late 1700s France - the Age of Exploration. This book-length poem sequence gives voice to a woman almost lost to history, who, through a chance encounter with a botanist, dared to carve her own space in a man's world. Through a non-linear collage of water and land narratives, we hear the voice of Jeanne Baré as she undergoes the destabilising experience of hiding her sex, taking on tasks that require physical stamina, strength and courage, enduring exposure and assault, and collecting plants never before seen in Europe. Slipping the limited moorings of her native field and village, she voyages to exotic lands, until finally, after seven years, she returns home, becoming the first woman to have circumnavigated the world."What a truly magnificent book. Without doubt, one of my Poetry Books of the Decade. I return to it again and again for the uniqueness of the material and the sheer verve and delight of the writing."** -Thomas McCarthy****Review by Vona Groarke: ** Two kinds of discovery animate the poems of Afric McGlinchey's à la belle étoile (Salmon, €12). Firstly, the voyage of a young Frenchwoman, Jeanne Baré, "peasant herbalist" and first woman to circumnavigate the world. In 1771, at the height of the Age of Exploration, Baré disguised herself as the valet of her lover, botanist Philibert Commerçon, and boarded the l'Étoile to join its global expedition. This voyage of discovery was to result in their gathering 30 specimen boxes of rare plants (including the now ubiquitous bougainvillea, named for the ship's captain) from lands as far-flung as Madagascar, Tahiti, Samoa, Mauritius and Brazil.The second, darker discovery, is Baré's unmasking as a woman and subsequent gang rape by the ship's crew.To both one might add a third exploration narrative, that of Baré's own story, largely navigated, it seems, by female researchers, finally resulting in her achievements being honoured - including at the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony. Her fascinating story is told here in a book-length sequence of projected first-person poems (Baré was literate, but didn't record her own story).It's a brave imaginative projection, this conjuring of a plausibly historical voice - the danger is that the telling will get in the way of the tale. Happily that's not the case here, with the narrative voice beautifully managed to convey the journey's excitements, dangers and discoveries. In the title poem, Jeanne declares, "My days have grown large, crowded with learning, noon apple-dreams and wonderings, / gusty as a million guesses!" and the sequence never quite loses sight of that wide-eyed and winning jouissance, despite adversity. As Every Revolution concludes:And, just like a girl, open-armed, I go spinning, quick-spying the sun, still far from falling into the saffron horizon.*Published in The Irish Times, 2025Vona Groarke is the new Ireland Professor of Poetry*
- About The Author
- Afric McGlinchey is an Irish-born poet with African connections. Her collections The lucky star of hidden things and Ghost of the Fisher Cat (both with Salmon Poetry) were translated into Italian and published by Casa Editrice L'Arcolaio. SurVision brought out two pamphlets, Invisible Insane (2019), and The Throat-Bird (2023). Among other honours, she has been the recipient of a Hennessy poetry award and two Literature Bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland. Tied to the Wind, a prose poetry memoir of her childhood, published by Broken Sleep Books in 2021, has been translated into Macedonian. Afric lives with her partner and dog beside the coast in rural West Corkwww.africmcglinchey.com
- Product Details
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- ISBN
- 9781915022783
- Format
- Paperback
- Publisher
- Salmon Poetry, (15 July 2026)
- Language
- English
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