Remarkable Creatures: A Novel [Paperback]

 

 

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In "Remarkable Creatures" Tracy Chevalier re-imagines the lives of Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, two truly significant women in the world of science in the first half of the nineteenth century. Both were fascinated by fossils of sea-land creatures that they collected up and down the cliffs and beaches around Lyme Regis, a small town on England's southern shore and a centre for amateurs to find and for scientists to buy fossils from the locals. In easy-going fluid language, Chevalier created two believable voices as they describe their lives, their friendship and the struggle to be recognized for their knowledge.

Mary, by twenty years the younger and historically the better known, had "the eye" for discovering fossils, often hidden in nodules, under rocks or emerging from landslips common in the region. Born into a very poor family, selling fossils as "curies" (curiosities) was a financial necessity for survival; her amateur fossil-hunting father taught his young daughter the skill of finding, identifying, cleaning the "curies" and presenting them for sale. At the age of eleven or twelve, Mary came to the attention of the "gentlemen scientists" when (probably with her brother Joe) she literally "unearthed" an almost complete dinosaur skeletons: an "ichthyosaurus". It was the first of an impressive number of such extraordinary discoveries that Mary made over the years, leading, eventually, to her becoming somewhat famous in her own right, and with more and more scientists seeking her out for assistance. Nonetheless, poverty remained a constant threat for most of her life.

Interleafed with Mary's first person account of her younger life, are chapters that give Elizabeth Philpot a direct voice. An educated middle class woman, she experienced her own kind of limitations in taking charge of her life: she didn't have the money, societal standing or the looks to attract a husband, the first and foremost goal for a woman in Victorian England. Seeing the society through two different perspectives enables Chevalier to take a broader and deeper look into the society at the time, and the limitations that women were facing. Depicting the two women as close friends in some ways, driven by their fascination with fossils, but also prone to jealousy and suspicion, the author, nonetheless, stresses their differences in class and education and, related to those, opportunities. For example, it is Elizabeth who travels to London (a several-day expedition by ship) to defend Mary's reputation after her find of a "plesiosaurus" is deemed a fake by the famous French geologist, Baron Cuvier. She does it without sharing her intentions or the results of her visit with Mary. Here and in other instances, Elizabeth herself appears to be not only protective of her younger friend but also patronizing, judging Mary too uneducated and naive to be able to follow the emerging arguments on how the new scientific evidence challenges the long-held general view of life on earth. How could the finds of creatures never seen before be brought in line with God creating the earth in six days, or His intentions if He allowed creatures to become extinct long ago. While Chevalier does not delve deep into these evolving controversies among different groups of scientists and religious figures, the implied philosophical and moral questions are always present, directly or indirectly. The novel ends at a crucial moment in the friendship between Mary and Elizabeth and the later developments in their lives are briefly outlined in a "Postscript".

Chevalier's novel, like any historical fiction story that relies on the re-imagination of a mostly unknown individual, works with a creative balance between facts and artistic license to fill gaps in the historical records and/or to add colour, depth and dramatic drive to the story, or, on the other hand, to highlight certain traits or developments, leave out information that would skew the fictional character created through the novel. Personally, having read more about Mary Anning, I have some quibbles with the depiction of Mary, and her relationship to some of the gentlemen scientists...

However, "Remarkable Creatures" was not my first acquaintance with Mary Anning and her life and times. Since Anning's 200th birthday in 1999, there has been renewed interest in her work and the role her discoveries played in the emergence of the new discipline of palaeontology and the growing debate on evolution of life. Among other material, another novel is of interest here. Published more or less at the same time as Chevalier's novel, Joan Thomas's novel Curiosity, while also re-imagining Mary Anning's life, depicts here somewhat differently and comes, consequently to different conclusions. Written from an outside omniscient observer position, Thomas places less emphasis on Elizabeth Philpot and more on another historical figure of Mary's acquaintance: the geologist Henry de la Beche. In Chevalier's novel he is referred to only in passing as a friend of both Philpot and the Anning family. Thomas's characterization of Mary also suggests a stronger personality as she matured, and one who was a shrewd business woman. It will be up to readers to decide which line of presentation of Mary Anning and her work they prefer. Both books - as fiction - are valid in their historical recreation and, as such, entertaining reading. Finally, those, like myself, keen to learn more about Mary Anning, can study a recent biography by Shelley Emling's Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World. It will shed more light on the veracity of either depiction. [Friederike Knabe]

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier (Rated: C)
ISBN: 978-0-452-29672-5
Penguin Group
Published November 6, 2010
Trade Paperback, 299 pages
Reviewed by Sandra
Tracy Chevalier has done it yet again! She has managed, by her delicious choice of words, to authentically evoke a by-gone era, England in the early 1800's. Jane Austen would have recognized the small English town by the sea, Lyme Regis, where people went to recover their health or because they were forced to live in "reduced" circumstances, as was the case with Elizabeth Philpot, one of the two fascinating and strong women portrayed in the novel.
This is a story of two unlikely friends. Mary Anning is a young girl from a poor family who hunts for fossils that she sells to contribute to the family income. She has an "eye" for fossils. Elizabeth Philpot is a middle-class spinster about 20 years older than Mary who is also a fossil hunter. In fact, every day they go "upon beach" as Mary expressed it, to hunt for them. Their lives are worlds apart socially but they become fast friends because of their shared passion for fossil-hunting.
One day Mary and her brother make a spectacular find embedded in a cliff - a remarkable creature - a fossil - an 18-foot stone "monster" - a dinosaur! This complete skeleton finds its way eventually to the British Museum. Sometime later, when Mary Anning's reputation as a reliable fossil hunter is maligned, Elizabeth Philpot wants to defend her friend. Elizabeth is very much a woman of her time who has a mind of her own (Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice would have admired her) but is hampered by prevailing attitudes about women. She tells her brother that she wants to address the Geological Society (all men) on Mary's behalf. His response is "they will not let you in for you are a lady, and their charter does not allow it." Elizabeth shows what she is made of, however, and takes it upon herself to travel alone (not the done thing for single women at the time) to London to address the Geological Society. Read the book to find out if she succeeds. Mary, too, has her share of negative comments. An aristocrat condescendingly says about her, "Mary Anning is a female. She is a spare part." Do I hear feminists ranting and raving about the injustice of it all?
This novel is interesting on several levels. First of all the reader learns that there were noteworthy women paleontologists in the 1800's, even if they didn't get all the recognition they deserved; that Mary's discoveries provoked considerable controversy between scientists and religionists that continues to our day; and that Mary helped to change the way people view extinct animals, those remarkable creatures.
The book is filled with excellent descriptions. "The narrow road leads down to the shore, and then quickly turns its back on the sea and heads uphill again, as if it wants merely to glimpse the waves before fleeing." "She stood at the range, stirring what smelled like oxtail broth, while a baby squalled without conviction in a drawer in the corner."
Remarkable Creatures will delight historical novel buffs for this is a story based on real people, real events. Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot are, in their own way, remarkable creatures.

Tracy Chevalier's sixth novel, Remarkable Creatures, traces the dramatized life of pioneer fossil collector Mary Anning of Lyme Regis in seaside 19th century England. Anning was an illiterate, working-class young girl whose claim to fame was being struck by lightning as a baby and having survived.

In her upcoming novel, Chevalier spreads her signature touches throughout the book. Indeed, this absorbing narrative of resilient friendship and adventures of a thirst for knowledge trails the intrepid scientific discoveries of young and rash Mary Anning and older, genteel London spinster Elizabeth Philpot, two women from diverse backgrounds and social sensibilities despite the testy current of conservative conventions and mores, and discover each other.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A satisfying read
I felt perfectly satisfied after reading this delightful book. It was a good story, well told. Lovely writing style. Read more

Published 7 months ago by mary l bancroft

4.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable Creatures
I remember reading to my daughter when she was small a children's book about Mary Anning and how she inspired my daughter to study dinosaurs. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Pauline

4.0 out of 5 stars Unputdownable
Remarkable Creatures is one part history, one part novel. It follows the known events in the life of Mary Anning, filling in the unknowns with fiction. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Vanessa M. Dow

4.0 out of 5 stars Discovering Fossils and What They Were: The Mary Anning Story
"The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Donald Mitchell

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Historical Fiction
Based in the early 1800s, this is the story of Mary Anning, who was a real life person who was one of the best fossil hunters ever. Read more

Published on Mar 21 2010 by MacFly

5.0 out of 5 stars A Truly "Remarkable" Story
This is truly a "remarkable" work of fiction. As always I am captivated by Tracy Chevalier's writing. It is beautiful, lyrical, and breathtaking. Read more

Published on Mar 3 2010 by Andrea Taylor

4.0 out of 5 stars "Fossil hunting does that to people - it breaks down the rules"
In Remarkable Creatures, Chevalier unfurls the fascinating life of the little-known fossilist Mary Anning. Read more

Published on Feb 16 2010 by Michael Leonard

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