Pierce, Patricia (2006), Jurassic Mary: Mary Anning and the Primeval Monsters, Sutton Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7509-4039-9 The greatest fossil hunter ever known was a woman from Lyme Regis. Mary Anning's discoveries were some of the most significant geological finds of all time. They provided evidence that was central to the development of new ideas about the history of the Earth.

The second woman is Anning's friend, Elizabeth Philpot, an educated woman who, being a spinster, relocated with her sisters to Lyme Regis after the death of their father. In fact, reading her story strongly reminded me of the sisters in Sense and Sensibility - and yes there even is a military man who plays a crucial role in the lives of both women. It's difficult to say more without revealing spoilers. Overall, I would recommend this book to those with an interest in the subjects but am not sure it will win over anyone who isn't interested in taking long walks along the beaches of Lyme Regis looking for fossils day in and day out. Statue of fossil-hunting pioneer Mary Anning to be unveiled in Dorset". The Guardian. 21 May 2022 . Retrieved 21 May 2022. Anning, her Lyme seashore, and the scientific discourse of her time are all fascinating topics for consideration. In creating the yin/yang of her dual protagonists Chevalier stretches the boundaries of historical fiction a little too far for me.

Some would say it's a slow novel, not much going on, but I like the way the writer describes the characters, with so much depth and humanity. And they are not the typical heroines, perfect women with strong wills who achieve what they resolve to. Oh no, no no...they are imperfect in so many ways, jealous of each other, angry with the world and sometimes unfair. I also like the way they share a strange passion: to collect fossils on the English shores, meanwhile the whole community goes crazy about these strange pair walking unaccompanied on the beach searching for "stones" . I had not the slightest idea about fossils and I didn't get bored when the book got into details about them. I found the "hunting, cleaning and collecting" process fascinating, so don't be put off by some readers' comments regarding this issue, as Chevalier manages to make a potentially weary subject into an engaging one with her humble and natural style. The family continued collecting and selling fossils together and set up a table of curiosities near the coach stop at a local inn. Although the stories about Anning tend to focus on her successes, Dennis Dean writes that her mother and brother were astute collectors too, and Anning's parents had sold fossils before the father's death. [18] Drawing from an 1814 paper [19] by Everard Home showing the Ichthyosaurus platyodon skull found by Joseph Anning in 1811 Davis, J. (5 May 2020). "Change of plans for Mary Anning's 221st birthday celebrations". Bridport and Lyme Regis News . Retrieved 15 October 2020.

As a child I walked the seafront with my father and brother to find what we then called curiosities. Their father, Richard, often took Anning and her brother Joseph on fossil-hunting expeditions to supplement the family's income. They offered their discoveries for sale to tourists on a table outside their home. This was a difficult time for England's poor; the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars that followed, caused food shortages. The price of wheat almost tripled between 1792 and 1812, but wages for the working class remained almost unchanged. In Dorset, the rising price of bread caused political unrest, even riots. At one point, Richard Anning was involved in organising a protest against food shortages. [16] Vincent, P.; Benson, R. B. J. (2012). " Anningasaura, a basal plesiosaurian (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) from the Lower Jurassic of Lyme Regis, United Kingdom". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (5): 1049. Bibcode: 2012JVPal..32.1049V. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2012.686467. S2CID 86547069.

They say I was a dull child before, but that after the lightning strike, I was bright. Like the lightning itself had gone into me and brought me fully to life.

Some details are extremely fictional—there’s no indication that Mary’s mother, Molly, ever set foot on the beach or ever searched for a fossil. She was only reluctantly won over to fossil selling as a way of earning cold, hard cash. I know Mary’s dog, Tray, was killed in a landslide, but I don’t think that Mary herself was caught in it (although it made good, dramatic sense in this version). I also wish that Chevalier had captured more clearly the intellectual achievements of Mary and the expertise that she drew on to educate many of the fossil-hunting men who came to her for assistance. There was definitely an auction by Lieutenant-Colonel Birch to fund the Anning family, but no indications that it was Elizabeth who shamed him into it or that he was romantically involved with either woman. I'd rather give it 2 and a half stars. It was an interesting way to learn about the fossils discovered by Mary Anning and her relationship with Elizabeth Philpott, but for me, the fictionalised account of what might have been the rest of their story wasn't equally interesting. Lomax, D. R.; Massare, J. A. (2015). "A new species of Ichthyosaurus from the Lower Jurassic of West Dorset, England, U.K". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 35 (2): e903260. Bibcode: 2015JVPal..35E3260L. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2014.903260. S2CID 85745787. Remarkable Creatures is the story of Mary Anning, who has a talent for finding fossils, and whose discovery of ancient marine reptiles such as that ichthyosaur shakes the scientific community and leads to new ways of thinking about the creation of the world.Claudia Stevens, Blue Lias, or the Fish Lizard's Whore, video documentation, script, performance history, Claudia Stevens papers, Special Collections, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary http://scdb.swem.wm.edu/?p=collections/controlcard&id=8096 Most influential British women in the history of science". The Royal Society . Retrieved 11 September 2010. MA in creative writing, University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, 1994. There’s a lot of debate about whether or not you can be taught to write. Why doesn’t anyone ask that of professional singers, painters, dancers? That year forced me to write all the time and take it seriously.