Friday, March 6th at noon in Meeting Room #5
Portland, Maine - Coffee Smuggler is an adventure based on the true story of Gabriel De Clieu, a French soldier who stole a coffee plant from King Louis XV in 1723 and smuggled it to the island of Martinique. There was only one coffee plant in France, locked in the King's botanical garden. The King and nobles had refused De Clieu's petitions for a cutting of the plant, so De Clieu seduced a noble woman with a strange illness. She had access the royal doctor who secretly gave a cutting of the King's plant to De Clieu. With the plant in hand, De Clieu boarded the ill-fated ship Le Dromedaire and faced pirate attacks, a hurricane, and starvation in the doldrums to bring this precious plant back to his home on Martinique. From this one plant sprang millions of coffee trees and much of the Arabica coffee drunk in the world today.
About the author
Dave Holman lives in Maine with his wife Rommy, cat Patas and four dwarf goats: Whoopie Pie, Aurora, Canela, and Silly Willy. He attended Carleton College and co-founded the Spitting Llama Bookstore and Outfitter while living in Bolivia. He co-authored Youth Renewing the Countryside in 2009. He holds an MBA and has worked for non-profit organizations like Safe Passage. He currently works full time at Bowdoin College and writes most mornings thanks in large part to the plant De Clieu smuggled to Martinique.
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