'Remarkable Creatures' by Tracy Chevalier

Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier (4.0)

As with ‘The Girl with the Pearl Erring’, Ms. Chevalier has taken real people and circumstances and evolved a novel of possible interactions and feelings for them.  In this case, it involves a pair of fossil hunters in Britain pre-Darwin. They are unique as both are women with one being quite poor and the other a upper class spinster. They meet on the beach and soon the poor young woman finds a dinosaur skeleton. With the help of the better-connected lady, the bones make their way into the collector’s and ultimately a museum. Most interesting was the way their discovery was treated- both due to the gender of the discoverers and due to the time period. The term ‘extinct’ made no sense. The majority of scholars did not believe that anything has died off – that would imply that God made a mistake, which is unthinkable! This discovery and subsequent ones from the same fossil seeker help drive the scholars to doubt earlier thinking. I’m not always a fan of historical fiction, as it tends to blur my memory of what is real and what is not. In this case, I appreciated that these people lived, but that the author added the drama and personalities, which brought this bit of history to light. She took an interesting real occurrence and added details of the society and difficulties for women of the time (a bit Jane Austen-ish). I’m sure most people reading this cringed when the 3 unmarried sisters had to move to a small city on the coast – because their brother got married and he was ‘responsible’ for them. Ugh.

'Winter in Madrid' by C. J. Sansom

Winter in Madrid, C.J. Sansom (3.5)

I was told if you liked ‘Shadows of the Wind’ (I did), you would like this book. I do see some similarities given the time period of the Spanish revolution, but the stories are quite different. While I enjoyed this book, it lacked the well-rounded characters and sense of whimsy amongst the sadness of war. Probably obvious from the title, this book is darker. We follow four British characters as they interact and make their way through WWII and it’s affect on Spanish politics. The main narrative has a veteran called up to the diplomatic service as a ruse to allow him to reconnect with a grade school chum who appears to be on the cusp of financing Franco (which may change Spain’s views on joining the war). I enjoyed the British character’s interaction with various characters at all levels of Spanish society. I also appreciated the ‘spy novel’ aspects to the story – which were interesting and per the Afterword, based on real people.