Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier
Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier
5 Rating(s)
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Remarkable Creatures

Author: Tracy Chevalier

Narrator: Susan Lyons, Charlotte Parry

Unabridged: 10 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 01/05/2010


Synopsis

 A voyage of discovery, two remarkable women, and an extraordinary time and place enrich this New York Times bestselling novel by Tracy Chevalier, author of At the Edge of the Orchard and Girl With a Pearl Earring. 

On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, poor and uneducated Mary Anning learns that she has a unique gift: "the eye" to spot fossils no one else can see. When she uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious community on edge, the townspeople to gossip, and the scientific world alight. After enduring bitter cold, thunderstorms, and landslips, her challenges only grow when she falls in love with an impossible man.

Mary soon finds an unlikely champion in prickly Elizabeth Philpot, a middle-class spinster who shares her passion for scouring the beaches. Their relationship strikes a delicate balance between fierce loyalty, mutual appreciation, and barely suppressed envy, but ultimately turns out to be their greatest asset.

Remarkable Creatures is a stunning historical novel that follows the story of two extraordinary 19th century fossil hunters who changed the scientific world forever.

About The Author

Tracy Chevalier grew up in Washington, DC. She received her BA in English literature from Oberlin College before moving to London in 1984. She later attended the University of East Anglia in Norwich, where she received her MA in creative writing. Her works include The Virgin Blue, The Girl With a Pearl Earring, and Remarkable Creatures.Charlotte Parry is an English actress. She made her Broadway debut in the 2000 Tony Award–winning revival of The Real Thing and has also appeared in stage productions of As You Like It, Pygmalion, and The Importance of Being Earnest. She has narrated the audiobooks for Before I Die, by Jenny Downham, and for Tracy Chevalier's Remarkable Creatures.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ on May 07, 2018

I now know more than I ever expected to about fossil-collecting by English women during the Regency period. This historical novel is somewhat loosely based on several people who actually lived, and either hunted or collected fossils, in England in the early 1800s. It alternates between the viewpoints......more

Goodreads review by Candi on March 27, 2017

Remarkable Creatures is a beautifully written book about two remarkable women, Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot. A fictional account based on real-life characters and events, Remarkable Creatures is set in the early 1800’s in the coastal town of Lyme Regis, England. Poor, uneducated Mary Anning and......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie on February 19, 2013

Another winner by Chevalier...I had never heard of Mary Anning and as I read this, it again dawned on me how many women have been erased and disappeared from history because of sexism and male prejudice during the times they lived in...Anning was a major paleontologist who was completely self taught......more

Goodreads review by Bionic Jean on March 24, 2025

At the moment Great Britain has a bit of fossil mania. Dinosaur and fossil stamps have been issued by the Royal Mail, the Royal Mint is matching them with dinosaur commemorative coins, and the Natural History Museum is finding a welcome surge of interest in their fossil gallery. The reason for this......more

Goodreads review by da on August 17, 2018

A gorgeously written story about fossils and friendship. Its rare gentleness makes it truly beautiful. The two audiobook narrators do an incredible job as well.......more


Quotes

Praise for Tracy Chevalier

"Evokes entire landscapes...a master of voices."
New York Times Book Review (on Falling Angels)

"Absorbing...[Chevalier] creates a world reminiscent of a Vermeer interior: suspended in a particular moment, it transcends its time and place."
—The New Yorker (on Girl With a Pearl Earring)

“Chevalier admirably weaves historical figures and actual events into a compelling narrative.”
San Francisco Chronicle (on Remarkable Creatures)

"Chevalier's signature talent lies in bringing alive the ordinary day-to-dayness of the past...lovingly evoked."
Elle (on Burning Bright)

"Chevalier's ringing prose is as radiantly efficient as well-tended silver."
Entertainment Weekly (on Falling Angels)