I’ve never hunted Jurassic fossils before!) This book is jam-packed with history-of-science goodies not just Mary Anning but also Henry de la Beche, William Buckland, and Georges Cuvier also make appearances. (And also mentally planning a trip to Lyme. So as soon as I found out that this book was about fossils, I knew I wanted to read it, and once I realized that it was based on real people, I was totally sold. I love fossils, love fossil collecting, love history of science, love books set in the early 1800s, and oh yes, the fossils! I have several ammonites and a belemnite sitting on one of my bookcases, and have gone fossil-hunting myself more than once. Review: I think I would be hard-pressed to find another piece of historical fiction that was so clearly designed to appeal to me. But for all her hard work, the men of science that buy her finds (including the first complete specimens of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs) are not the sort that will recognize how beholden they are to the rough, unlettered daughter of a tradesman. She collects them to sell, to make money to pay off her father’s debts, and luckily she has a good eye for the traces of fossils embedded in the cliffs. Elizabeth collects them primarily as a hobby, because she finds them – and what they suggest about the nature of creation and life on Earth – fascinating, but Mary is not driven by such high-minded concerns. Both Mary and Elizabeth show an affinity for fossils – or curies, as Mary calls them – which are abundant in the seaside cliffs of Lyme.

Mary Anning was born in Lyme, the daughter of a carpenter, and only eleven years old at the start of the story. Elizabeth Philpot is the eldest of three unmarried sisters, forced to move from London to Lyme by their reduced circumstances. Summary: Remarkable Creatures tells the story of two women living in Lyme Regis, along the southern coast of England, in the early 1800s. Why do I have it? Historical Fiction! History of science! Fossils!! Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier (2009)

Remarkable creatures book review