One of the best books of the year, following great success in hardback, from bestselling and much-loved novelist Tracy Chevalier. 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.

特蕾西•雪佛蘭（Tracy Chevalier）

1962年齣生於美國華盛頓，1984年遷居英格蘭。1994年獲得英國東安哥拉大學創意寫作碩士學位。處女作《純藍》一舉獲得史密斯文學奬年度新人奬；《墮落天使》引起瞭世人的普遍關注。《戴珍珠耳環的少女》是雪佛蘭備受贊譽的代錶作，將她歸入偉大作傢的行列。其作品多以舊時女子試圖破壞環境限製，改變自身命運為主題，細膩敏銳，纏綿悱惻，意味幽遠。