So, you cannot blame “the guy” for escaping from his tank, overnight when something “tastier” is within reach. Anning’s instrumental work included her discovery of coprolites (fossilized feces), which began conversations about what animals, like dinosaurs, ate.

Elizabeth's characterization of people based upon what feature they "lead" with - eyes, hair, hands. Elizabeth, however, was possibly more inhibited due to her more “elevated” position as a lady in society than was Mary. A strong bond of friendship develops between the women, although their social circumstances and backgrounds.Little is known about Anning’s romantic history, but she remained unmarried for the course of her life.

The fossil is sent to London for study, but Elizabeth catches wind that a well-known scientist considers the plesiosaur a hoax. When Elizabeth Philpot challenges Reverend Jones with the theory that a certain fossil specimen “is an animal that God rejected in favor of a better design” the Reverend contends “All that you see about you is as God set it out in the beginning. Tova is a widower whose eighteen-year-old son went missing over thirty years ago, and she still feels the loss daily. Plain, outspoken and without the substantial income that would make those failings palatable, Elizabeth is resigned to spinsterhood, but Lyme offers outlets for her curiosity about the natural world, as well as the satisfaction of watching a burgeoning science develop. However, Chevalier has taken the true histories of Anning and Philpot and fashioned from them a moving story of the resilience of an unusual female friendship and of ground shifting beneath people’s feet as new discoveries force them to look at the world with fresh eyes.I had expected to come away from the novel with some feminist insight into Mary Anning, and what I got was even more subtle and surprising.

She not only introduced him into the world of minerals, rocks and fossils, but took an active part in the scientific pursuits which she had initiated, which leads us to conclude that her views are intimately connected with Roderick Murchison’s work. I was invested from the first to last page and found myself saying ‘No’ in horror when some of the misunderstandings threatened the happiness of my new fictional best friends. Marcellus is adorable and is a reminder of how precious our animal friends are to us especially in moments of loneliness and sorrow. As a young woman growing up poor in the early 19th century, Anning received little formal education.

Mary is the young one, the uneducated girl with lightning in her bones, who reacts to everything by instinct. At first, I did not realize this was based on the stories of real people and the amazing discoveries of two women inlcuding the first ichthyosaur skeleton correctly identified. As I mentioned, there are a plethora of coincidences in this novel, so you'll have to set that aside to enjoy the simple beauty of the tale if those types of things bother you.