Rarest Fruit

Award-winning author Gaëlle Bélem from Reunion has published two novels with Gallimard – Un monstre est là, derrière 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.

• 1EDMONDSainte-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.’2EDMOND DISCOVERS BOTANYFerréol’s garden, 1833A 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 ‘Ferréol’s garden’.3EDMOND DISCOVERS THE GENESIS OF PLANTSGarden of Eden, golden ageAt dawn on the third day, God created plants.4EDMOND: BOTANIST AND DISSIDENTFerréol’s sitting room, one stormy eveningA botanist, like you!5FERRÉOL BELLIER-BEAUMONTBellevue district, end of the 18th centuryHis 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.6MONSIEUR AND MADAME DEJEANQuartier-Français, 1823Monsieur and Madame Dejean died on the same day, but not from the same cause.7EDMOND AS SEEN BY VOLCY-FOCARDA record and recollections, 1830–1840Later, when they were crippled with pain, reeking of sweat and smelling like the earth, they would still remember him as an intelligent child.8CHARLES MORRENBelgium, 1837In the beginning were pumpkins and glasshouses.9HERNÁN CORTÉSMexico–Seville, 16th centuryAmong the undergrowth in the Aztec Empire, baskets overflowing with vanilla were taken down to the city.10VANILLA FLOWERSBellevue, 1837–1840Sounding 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.11INCONCLUSIVE TRIALS1841, annus horribilisStill nothing.12VANILLA PLANIFOLIA1841, a prosperous yearHis nose covered in pollen, he let out a cry of joy: ‘I've found it!’13EDMOND TELLS FERRÉOL THE INCREDIBLE NEWSVanilla 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.’14FERRÉOL THE PATIENTOn his sickbed, 1842Ferréol is dying of who-knows-what illness, contracted in his orchard where dozens of green pods hang.15THE BELLIER-BEAUMONTSFrom Burgundy to Sainte-Suzanne17th to 19th centuryThey 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.16THE NEWS SPREADSBourbon Island, 1842‘That is how news of the interesting discovery spread quickly from its point of origin throughout our small country.’17EDMOND ON TOURWindward 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’.18EXOTIC VANILLAVS COLONIAL VANILLAAtlantic coast, middle of the 19th centuryIn 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.19MONSIEUR DE BEAUMONTOn top of the world, middle of the 19th centuryVanilla – it was me!20EDMOND AND ICARUSHigh, very highOnce 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.21NO, NO, NOSlave hut, 1843–1848Sic vos non vobis, laboratis, servi.Thus do you work, slaves, but not for yourselves.22THE GRAND WALTZ OF NAMESTown hall of Sainte-Suzanne,22 November 1848Edmond, citizen and son of the late Pamphile and Mélise, presented himself at the town hall, this Wednesday 22 November, to receive a name.23EDMOND AND SARDA GARRIGAPlace du Gouvernement, also known as Le Barachois, 20 December 1848Free men, did you say?24EDMOND HITS ROCK BOTTOMRock Bottom, 1849–1850Edmond is living by a river, on the verge of ruin.25EDMOND THE COOKRue du Four-à-Chaux, Saint-Denis, 1851While waiting for Edmond’s trial, the executioner was paid his dues and a gallows erected.26EDMOND IS SENTENCED TO PRISONGaol on rue du Conseil, Saint-Denis, 1851–1852All 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.27EDMOND LEAVES PRISONThe north of Bourbon Island, 1852–1855Edmond, come out!28EDMOND BECOMES A GROWERSainte-Suzanne, 1855–1862World! Here I am!29ANTOINE LOUIS ROUSSIN,LITHOGRAPHERArtist’s studio, 1862–1863This 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.30CLAUDE RICHARDJardin du Roy, 1862Vanilla – it was him!31EDMOND MEETSMARIE-PAULINE BASSANACommune-Carron, 1869Something 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.32EDMOND’S FATHER-IN-LAWIndia, 19th centuryWorse than war, there were public embraces,trade agreements, mace and the customary peppercorns.33EDMOND AND MARIE-PAULINE BASSANA GET MARRIEDWedding reception, 1871Love is a simpering form of death.34YEARS OF MOURNINGSainte-Suzanne, 1876–1880While 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.35EDMOND’S ENDSainte-Suzanne Hospice, 1880Thus passes the glory of the world.

‘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 Réunionese 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 [Bélem]'s sharp, voluptuous, no-nonsense pen ... in this fictionalized biography blending fantasy, Creole mythology & Réunionese folklore.’ Le Point