#remarkable creatures

[litsnaps]

[litandlifequotes]

We say very little, for we do not need to. We are silent together, each in her own world, knowing the other is just at her back.

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

[quotespile]

But dying was no drama. Dying was cold and hard and painful, and dull. It went on too long. I was exhausted and growing bored with it.

Tracy Chevalier, Remarkable Creatures

[the-art-librarian]

Summer Evening on Skagen's Southern Beach by P.S. Kroyer, if it's not too much to ask

Without hesitation—Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier’s biography of Mary Anning. At its heart it is a story of female friendship, and the two women spend much of their time walking by the seaside searching for fossils.

Mary Anning and I are hunting fossils on the beach, she her creatures, I my fish. Our eyes are fastened to the sand and rocks as we make our way along the shore at different paces, first one in front, then the other. Mary stops to split open a nodule and find what may be lodged within. I dig through clay, searching for something new and miraculous.

[...] So we continued arm in arm along the beach, talking until at last we had no more to say, like a storm that blows itself out, and our eyes dropped to the ground, where the curies were waiting for us to find them.

[nellygwyn]

Lyme Regis is a town that has submitted to its geography, rather than forced the land to submit to it. The hills into town are so steep that coaches cannot travel down them; passengers are left at the Queen's Arms at Charmouth or the crossroads at Uplyme, and brought down in carts. The narrow road leads down to the shore and then, quickly turns its back on the sea and heads up hill again, as if it wants merely to glimpse the waves before fleeing. The bottom, where the tiny River Lym pours into the sea, forms the square in the centre of town. The Three Cups, the main inn, is there, across from the Customs House and the Assembly Rooms which, while modest, boast three glass chandeliers and a fine bay window overlooking the shore. Houses spread out from the centre, along the coast and up the river, and shops and the shambles market stalls march up Broad Street. It is not planned, like Bath or Cheltenham or Brighton, but wriggles this way and that, as if trying to escape the hills and sea, and failing. But that is not all there is to Lyme. It is as if there are two villages side by side, connected by a small sandy beach where the bathing machines are lined up awaiting an influx of visitors. The other Lyme, at the west end of the beach, doesn't shun, but embraces the sea. It is dominated by the Cobb, a long grey stone wall that curves like a finger out into the water and shelters the shore, creating a tranquil harbour for the fishing boats and the trading ships that come from all over. The Cobb is several feet high and wide enough for three to walk along arm in arm, which many visitors do, for it gives a fine view back to the town and the dramatic shoreline beyond of rolling hills and cliffs, and green, grey and brown. Bath and Brighton are beautiful despite their surroundings, the even buildings with their smooth stone creating an artifice that pleases the eye. Lyme is beautiful because of its surroundings and despite its indifferent houses. It appealed to me immediately

A description of Georgian/Regency era Lyme Regis in 'Remarkable Creatures' by Tracey Chevalier

[quotespile]

He made me feel an idiot, even when I knew he was a bigger one than I.

Tracy Chevalier, Remarkable Creatures

[litsnaps]

[quotespile]

We say very little, for we do not need to. We are silent together, each in her own world, knowing the other is just at her back.

Tracy Chevalier, Remarkable Creatures