
"She sells seashells by the seashore."
That tongue-twister was inspired by a real woman, Mary Anning. Despite being very poor and uneducated (at the beginning of the book she's illiterate), young Mary Anning of Lyme, England had a real eye for fossils. She doesn't know exactly what these things are that she is collecting (yes, they are known to be fossils, but of what) but visitors collect them as souvenirs, some scientists study them, and Mary needs to do what she can to contribute to the Anning household. Also, she likes collecting them.
Elizabeth Philpot and her fellow spinster sisters

Mostly this is the story of a friendship. There isn't a lot of detail about paleontology (not much was known), although there is discussion of how these discoveries were impacting Christianity in a big way. The story was completely fascinating. The period details felt very authentic (if with a dash of anachronism when it came to the science). I felt like I was back in Jane Austen's time, the dirt and the chill and the wet were very real. I liked that is was mostly told from Elizabeth's point of view. The life o

Mary Anning discovered the first ichthyosaur and plesiosaur.
I checked this book out from the library on my cruise ship!
2 comments:
This would be a great one to read for Women's History month! I have it on my shelf...not sure I will get to it though.
I have this one on my Nook Color and I really need to start reading it soon! I adored Girl With a Pearl Earring, and have been looking forward to reading more from this author.
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