Saturday, November 9, 2013

Remarkable Creatures

Finished Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier. This is historical fiction set in the early 1800s in Lyme, England. It focuses on two women, Mary Anning, a poor girl with an eye for spotting fossils, and Elizabeth Philbot, an educated spinster who collects fossils. Over time the two fall in and out of friendship and make some startling discoveries. Neither is taken seriously because they are women, until Mary discovers the fossilized remains of a new species of prehistoric life. Mary and Elizabeth's work goes not only against convention, but against religion as well. This was an interesting, if at times dry read.