Remarkable Creatures is a beautiful historical fiction story based on the real life story of Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot. These two women pioneered the uncovering of fossilized creatures and lead many of the scientific discoveries of the nineteenth century.

Set in the city of Lyme, Mary is a girl who has been unusual her whole life. Her uniqueness begins after being struck by lightening as a baby and she continues to be considered different by her community because of her unusual habit of searching for fossils on the beach that has been passed down to her by her father.

Elizabeth, a middle-aged woman who has never been married, and her sisters move to the town and each take to their own hobbies. All of the sisters have the usual hobbies of gardening, keeping home, and baking... all of them except Elizabeth. Elizabeth soon finds her own hobby of fossil discovery, although she lacks the eye of training that Mary possesses.

An unlikely friendship between two women of very different social classes form because of their mutual interest in these fossils as they make rare scientific discoveries by gathering these bones.

When a man comes between the two women, neither can put their egos aside to apologize and they are left to their discoveries alone. When Mary discovers something that their community thinks cannot be made by God's hands, the only person that can preserve her reputation is Elizabeth, because of her social standing.

Will Elizabeth put aside her feelings to defend her friend's honor or will she allow nature to take its course and discredit Mary's standings in the scientific community?

I found the book to be a fast read and a very interesting look at a time when talk of fossils challenged the very belief system of people and a time when women were never intended to pioneer anything other than the keeping of their homes. It was a great book and I look forward to reading more books from Chevalier!

- a long ambling book. The narrator did well, it was fun to hear the accents
- Elizabeth was annoying and uptight, she stuck her nose in when unwanted and did not help when needed! She was rude to her sister too, and used rudeness and harshness and called it practicality
- Elizabeth and Mary both refer to the other as friends but there is a significant age, class, and education discrepancy, and we never see on-page time together that is a real connection as people, as women with personalities

- I felt like this was a topic that was interesting to the author, she spotted one or two female names and then tried to come up with entire personalities while also covering a significant course of time
- because of her research she tried to include as much of that as possible and still tried to be true to the dates as to when meetings happened, theories were published, and papers were written Etc
- overall this just did not have any heart for me. Too much time was covered and it felt impersonal and I felt removed from the characters. and I felt that it lacked a human element

- One reviewer states the book was "not as deep or fascinating or insightful as I would have liked" which just about sums it up
- I did like that we get to see some historical women who were not 100% focused on securing a husband, but they still seemed to be like 50% concerned...
- the book's idea and premise was definitely interesting and different, yet the book was dull and a letdown
- one review: "for a book that starts with a lightning strike, remarkable creatures has surprisingly little spark... Even a life-threatening experience on the beach passes by quickly and offhandedly."