Book Report: The Mapmaker’s Wife

I just started The Mapmaker’s Wife on the bus this morning and I am already intrigued. Mostly I love the description of what Isabel packed for her perilous voyage across the Amazon (a trip that only a handful of people had undertaken at the time):

There was the gear that they needed for the journey – blankets, ponchos, and food – and her many possessions. She was after all, now moving to France. Fancy dresses, skirts, shawls, gold buckled shoes, lace-trimmed underwear, and silver-studded belts were just a start. Next came the silver bowls, the fine china, the gold rosaries, the earrings set with emeralds, and the various fancy linens.

Now, this is my kind of lady!