Remarkable Creatures

Resumen del libro

In the year of the 150th anniversary of Origin of Species, set in a town where Jane Austen was a frequent visitor, Tracy Chevalier once again shows her uncanny sense for the topical. In the early nineteenth century, a windswept beach along the English coast brims with fossils for those with the eye! From the moment she's struck by lightning as a baby, it is clear Mary Anning is marked for greatness. When she uncovers unknown dinosaur fossils in the cliffs near her home, she sets the scientific world alight, challenging ideas about the world's creation and stimulating debate over our origins.

In an arena dominated by men, however, Mary is soon reduced to a serving role, facing prejudice from the academic community, vicious gossip from neighbours, and the heartbreak of forbidden love. Even nature is a threat, throwing bitter cold, storms, and landslips at her. Luckily Mary finds an unlikely champion in prickly, intelligent Elizabeth Philpot, a middle-class spinster who is also fossil-obsessed.

Their relationship strikes a delicate balance between fierce loyalty and barely suppressed envy. Despite their differences in age and background, Mary and Elizabeth discover that, in struggling for recognition, friendship is their strongest weapon. Remarkable Creatures is Tracy Chevalier's stunning new novel of how one woman's gift transcends class and gender to lead to some of the most important discoveries of the nineteenth century.

Above all, it is a revealing portrait of the intricate and resilient nature of female friendship.

Biografía del autor

Creció en Washington y ya desde edad temprana mostró interés por el mundo de los libros, escribiendo sus primeros relatos cortos en el instituto. A los 22 años se mudó a Reino Unido, donde trabajó durante un tiempo en varias editoriales. Tras graduarse en escritura creativa, consiguió el reconocimiento internacional con La joven de la perla, un bestseller traducido a 38 idiomas. Duomo lanzó con una gran acogida entre los lectores La voz de los árboles y publicará próximamente su nueva novela histórica.