By the same author as Girl with the Pearl Earring, so this is historically accurate fiction-- not as well written, though. I find the era of Jane Austen somewhat stilted (England, mid-1800's), but did learn a lot about the discovery of the ichthyosaurus as the world came to accept evolution.

*****I read an ARC of this book****

Remarkable Creatures is the story of two spinsters and their shared passion; fossil hunting.

Mary Anning was a working class girl whose father taught her to beachcomb in order to find "curies" or fossilized ammonites and other prehistoric creatures.

Elizabeth Philpot was a middle class spinster who shared Mary's fascination with fossil hunting.

Their fascination shaped their lives into slightly more free and unusual activity than women of their time enjoyed. While contending with the scientific community's dismissal of women and the religious danger of theories about prehistoric creatures, both women tried to discover what the fossils truly represented in a time before prehistoric dinosaurs were understood.

The true history of this book is fascinating, one tends to forget how people saw fossils before dinosaur theory was widely accepted. When Mary find her first ichthysaurus, everyone calls it a "crocodile."

The marginialized, frustrated feeling of women participating in the male-dominated world of "science" is also interesting.

However in the end, the adddition of some love interests and the somewhat disjointed jumping from Elizabeth to Mary's point of view sometimes made the novel feel "draggy" to me.

This is a wonderful story about class, friendship and science set in the 19th century. It follows the story of Mary Anning (who because of her gender wasn't even able to even be part of England's Geological Society even though she discovered several important prehistorical fossils!). She lived in poverty and hunted for fossils from a child.

This is contrasted with her friendship with Elizabeth Philpot a "spinster" who collected fish fossils. She was of a wealthier class but was also trapped by her gender. I loved reading about these intelligent remarkable women. This book is wonderful and should be as well known as Tracy Chevalier's more famous novel "The Girl with a Pearl Earring".

Loved it. Terrific read!

Smart fiction. Spinsters, fossils & friendship!

not as good as many of her previous books, but still very enjoyable.

"That is all she will get, I thought: a scrap of thanks crowded out by far more talk of glory for beast and man. Her name will never be recorded in scientific journals or books, but will be forgotten. So be it. A woman's life is always a compromise."