Remarkable Creatures

Fossilized snail-shell, originally uploaded by Roberto Verzo.

Fossils are remarkable creatures, as are two women in the early 1800's who defy convention and share the passion of fossicking for fossils. I have to confess that I am rather ignorant about fossils.  This is despite the fact that I have a husband who is fascinated by rocks and fossils.  I remember my surprise when we married, that two boxes of rocks and fossils were coming too.  Not only that, but they were to be displayed on a shelf in our lounge room - they are still displayed in a glass cabinet.

Tracy Chevalier's latest book Remarkable Creatures is a treasure.  Having read it over our Christmas break, I now know much more about fossils and the two women Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot.  These women actually existed as this book is based on real events.  This makes it even more fascinating, as both women contributed richly to our knowledge of the world.  These women found fossils of creatures that no longer exist, plunging them into a debate with the church about creation.  Surely, God could not have made a creature which then became extinct?  What did this say about God? At the time, it was men who engaged in such debate and it was men who went fossicking for fossils.

Neither woman is particularly likeable, both are eccentric and have few friends.  They share an interest in finding fossils.  For one, Mary, it becomes a livelihood and a way of putting food on the table.  For Elizabeth, it is a way to fill an empty life and empty days, but they form a friendship of sorts. Tracy Chevalier is such a wonderful writer, that I was gripped by this book and became fascinated in the life these women lived in Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast of England.  Elizabeth could well have crossed paths with Jane Austen, who visited this town.

This week at work, I had a client ask me about laws covering the exporting of fossils from Australia.  I couldn't help myself, so I asked her "have you read Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier?"  Indeed she had, and had met the author herself during her book launch last August.  This client is also an author and had returned from a fossil dig in a part of Queensland researching for a new book to discover that this book had been published.  I am often asked quirky questions and I love fossicking for an answer and yes, I was able to answer her question.  I will keep an eye out for her next book, which I am sure will explore the discovery of fossils and their disappearance overseas - she is a crime writer.