Remarkable Creatures (2010)

''Mary Anning leads with her eyes.'' Turns out they're eyes that can sweep the desolate rockstrewn beaches of Lyme Regis and see what no one else can: fossils. Poor and uneducated, Mary finds an ally in tart-tongued Elizabeth Philpott, a London spinster who shares her passion for fossil hunting. They band together, challenging the Victorian-era men who try to take credit for Mary's discoveries. In many ways, Remarkable Creatures is as moving a story as Tracy Chevalier's Girl With a Pearl Earring. But the author's jarring scientific asides — especially her discussions of Mary’s finds and their importance in the fossil record — punctuate the narrative so frequently that the story never truly flows. B–