Prodigious Creatures, Paperback Book, By: Chevalier, Tracy

Lightning has struck me all my life. But only once for real" In the 1810s, at Lyme Regis on the windswept coast of Dorset, Mary Anning discovered her first fossils and became passionate about these " prodigious creatures "whose existence calls into question all theories about the creation of the world. Very quickly, the young girl from a modest background comes up against the prejudices of the scientific community, made up exclusively of men, which confines her to a role of figuration. Fortunately, Mary Anning finds an unexpected ally in Elizabeth Philpot. Celtic intelligent and acerbic old maid, fascinated by fossils, accompanies him in his explorations. If their friendship is gradually doubled by a rivalry, it remains, in the face of general hostility, their best weapon. With a finesse reminiscent of Austen fane, Tracy Chevalier tells, in Prodigieuses Creatures, the story of a woman who, braving her condition and her social class, made one of the greatest discoveries of the 19th century.