Mary Anning was struck by lightning when she was a baby. Since she was a young girl her father had taught her to look for fossils such as Ammonite (snake stone or petrified serpent), Brittle Star, Gryphaea (devil's toenail), Sea Urchin, Belemnite (devil's finger), etc., for souvenirs in the beach. Mary was really good at that. She was a kind person that lead with her eye.
Elizabeth Philpot and her two sisters had moved to Lyme (south coast of England), gave away their previous live in London because their brother got married, and went through the life of spinsters. She was really fond of historical journals and other books, except novels. She found new activity - yet as hobby - walked through the beach and search for fish fossils.
There young Mary Anning, from working class background, and Elizabeth Philpot, from higher class, met and made friends. Yet, they had a strong bond of relationship in the world that dominated by men. Especially when young Mary found the ancient fossils (Ichthyosaur "fish lizard" and Plesiosaur "sea dragon") that became scientifically challenge human's thinking about the creation of world and God.
We can see them struggled with poverty, rivalry and ostracism, as well as the physical dangers of their chosen obsession. It reminds us that friendship can outlast storms and landslides, anger and and jealousy.
The author herself says that this novel is fiction but some of the persons were real. She got the inspiration after visited Dinosaur Museum in Dorchester, on the south coast of England. Among the usual displays, there was a wall devoted to Mary Anning, who lived in the early 19th century in the nearby town of Lyme Regis, where fossils are abundant.
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