Put a Good Novel on Your Holiday Gift List

Many of you may have read Girl With A Pearl Earring or seen the Oscar-nominated  film based on Tracy Chevalier's historical novel (Dutton, 1999).

Chevalier has written a total of 6 historical novels with Remarkable Creatures (Harper Collins 2009) the most recent.

Thanks to Pearl, we have a review of Remarkable Creatures to share.

Pearl recounts her recent attendance at a talk given by Chevalier.

She says, "I had the pleasure of hearing Tracy Chevalier talk about the research she does for her books. Besides the library research on Mary Anning ,she went fossil hunting multiple times to gain an awareness of the coast, the cold and the concentration fossil hunting took. There actually exists a small museum of Mary Anning's finds.

The book is about poor and uneducated Mary Anning, who really did exist, and her ability to find fossils on the English coast.

Of course the male academic community did not recognize her. The fictionalized character, Elizabeth Pilpot, from the middle-class brings notice of Mary to the London academic community.

The book has wonderful descriptions of the class structure in Britain and the fear of finding evidence of new creatures. It is a quick and enjoyable read.
Hope you enjoy the book,"

(Thanks, Pearl.  for sending us this review.)

For those who have enjoyed one of Tracy Chevalier's historical novels or who are choosing one for the first time, there are 4 others among of her literary achievements:

The Virgin Blue(Plume, 1997)
Falling Angels (Dutton, 2001)
The Lady and the Unicorn(Dutton Adult,  2003)
 Burning Bright (Harper Collins,2007)