Dinner & A Book - Remarkable Creatures

Join me and my guest Tuck Langland as we discover fossils along the southern coast of England with a working class girl and a London spinster with food to match the 1800’s location in Tracy Chevalier's Remarkable Creatures on Dinner and a Book.

In 1810 England a sister and a brother uncover the fossilized skull of an unknown animal in the cliffs on the south coast of England. It has a long snout, prominent teeth and a huge, bulbous eye. Remarkable Creatures is the story of Mary Anning, who struck by lighting when she was a small child, has a talent for finding fossils and ancient marine reptiles like the ichthyosaur, a discovery which shakes the scientific community and leads to new ways of thinking about the creation of the world. Working in an arena dominated by middle-class men, Mary finds herself out of step with her working-class background. She takes solace in an unlikely friendship with Elizabeth Philpot, a prickly London spinster with her own passion for fossils. Join me and Tuck Langland as we follow the life of Mary and Elizabeth while preparing some typical dishes from the south coast of England.