Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language:  A handful of common swear words and a few casual uses of the name of Deity.

Violence:  Mary and a fellow townsman are buried in a landslide.  Mary was rescued while the townsman was not so lucky and smothered to death in the mud next to her.

Sexual Content:  A young Mary innocently explains that a particular fossil is shaped similarly to her brothers male parts.  Mary and a female companion avoid looking at a man relieving himself in the sea.  They briefly discuss the male anatomy and ask whether or not the other had actually seen it.   The town of Lyme spread rumors about Mary as she helps two different gentlemen look for specimens, unchaperoned on the nearby beaches.

Adult Content:  Poverty and illness take the lives of many of the Anning babies as well as their father.  Mary and her brother Joseph are left to help pay their father’s debts and provide for themselves and their mother.  Women are not considered equals, which makes life more difficult for those without a man in their life.  The social class system prevents the lower class from obtaining the privileges of the upper class in the areas of jobs, recognition, marriageability, etc.

Synopsis

After the passing of Elizabeth Philpot’s parents,  she and her two sisters are sent to live in a cottage in Lyme.  As they learn to adjust to their new lifestyle, they each find a hobby to pass their days away.  Elizabeth discovers that the surrounding beaches are covered with the remains of fossilized creatures.  She is mesmerized by these animals buried in the earth and long forgotten, finding solace in hunting the beaches for them. As the sisters become more familiar with their new surroundings, Elizabeth meets a young girl named Mary Anning, the daughter of a local cabinet maker.  Mary helps her family earn money by hunting for “curries” or fossils to sell to visitors passing through. She has a knack for finding fossils of all kinds, including  some large “monsters” the world has never seen before, like the ichthyosaur and plesiosaur.  In spite of their age difference, Mary and Elizabeth form a unique friendship which will eventually influence the great scientific minds of their time and open the doors for women to contribute to the advancement of geological sciences.

I love the time period of the 1800’s in England and am admittedly a huge Jane Austen fan.  So, when I saw this book and read the synopsis I had to give it a try.  Although not written in the romantic Austen style with a happy ending, this story gave a unique perspective of an upper class spinster and a lower class working girl influencing the world of geological research.  In fact, the characters were based on their real life counter parts.  Much of the story is woven together with the author’s own interpretation of  actual historical events.   I found this to be an informative and relaxing read.  I had no idea that these women even existed or had such an influence on our understanding of ancient life.  And the Austen fan will be happy to know that Jane visited Lyme in 1804 where she saw Mary Anning’s father to get a quote on fixing a broken chest lid.  According to a letter she wrote her sister, he charged far too much and she took her business elsewhere.