Remarkable Creatures
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By Tracy Chevalier
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1 review
‘It is a stunning story, compassionately reimagined’ Guardian Tracy Chevalier’s stunning novel of how one woman’s gift transcends class and gender to lead to some of the most important discoveries of the nineteenth century. A revealing portrait of the intricate and resilient nature of female friendship. In the early nineteenth century, a windswept beach along the English coast brims with fossils for those with the eye… From the moment she’s struck by lightning as a baby, it is clear Mary Anning is marked for greatness. When she uncovers unknown dinosaur fossils in the cliffs near her home, she sets the scientific world alight, challenging ideas about the world’s creation and stimulating debate over our origins. In an arena dominated by men, however, Mary is soon reduced to a serving role, facing prejudice from the academic community, vicious gossip from neighbours, and the heartbreak of forbidden love. Even nature is a threat, throwing bitter cold, storms, and landslips at her. Luckily Mary finds an unlikely champion in prickly, intelligent Elizabeth Philpot, a middle-class spinster who is also fossil-obsessed. Their relationship strikes a delicate balance between fierce loyalty and barely suppressed envy. Despite their differences in age and background, Mary and Elizabeth discover that, in struggling for recognition, friendship is their strongest weapon.
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St Just Monday Morning Reading Group 24th February 2020.
Remarkable creatures. Tracy Chevalier.
The reading group, with unusual unanimity, all thought this was a very good book and enjoyed reading it. We found it interesting and readable, learnt a lot from it, identified with the characters, and thought it made a good tale, taken from historical facts.
We were interested in the way the book presented the dilemma about evolution, and what the fossils were and what they meant. Why did God create animals for which He then decided he had no further use? was the question it posed. The author did not enter into the scientific debate or the theories of evolution or of geology, but she did stimulate interest in the subjects, we thought.
The women in the story were marginalised, socially and intellectually, by reason of their gender; Mary Anning was also largely disregarded because she came from the working classes and had no education and little money. Elizabeth Philpot was seen as a lady and had some education, but as a spinster she had little status and was viewed as an eccentric by most people in Lyme. Both of these women, as their story progressed, grew in confidence as they grew in learning, and ended by making an impression on the academic community and having their voices heard and their views made known. Molly Anning also, Mary's mother, gradually took on the role of a businesswoman and made deals with the fossil buyers. These observations led the group to a further discussion about women's opportunities and how women's roles have changed over the last two centuries. Everyone thought the book made an interesting social commentary on how women were treated in this period.
We liked the writing style and the way the book ended in a positive way. And we'd like to read more of Tracy Chevalier's books in the future.
