Review of 'The Fossil Hunter' by Tea Cooper
The Fossil Hunter is due out October 27th, 2021!
Tea Cooper is a best-selling author of historical fiction. Many great books have flowed from her prolific pen, including The Fossil Hunter her latest impressive offering. This is a dual timeline novel (my favourite kind!) where a search for fossils in the Bow Wow Gorge in the Hunter Valley, Australia, leads to an unexpected and fascinating past-meets-present mystery.
The book begins in 1847, in the setting of Wollombi, NSW. From the opening chapter, we meet Mellie Vale, a feverish sick girl with a big imagination who fears that bunyips, a man-eating mythical creature from Aboriginal stories, will capture her. This tale fires Mellie’s mind and rattles her to the core as it erodes any security she holds. But she is ill and to regain her health, she is sent to live with Anthea Winstanley, a palaeontologist, a fossil hunter at Bow Wow Gorge. Yet for Mellie, leaving her familiar surroundings is as scary as the creature that haunts her. But she must go and it is here in this new setting, where her true adventures begin.
We meet Anthea Winstanley who is most at home under a dense canopy of trees exploring a treasure trove of ancient remains. She seeks prehistoric marine reptiles and longs for a discovery. This journey began with her late husband, Benjamin, a man who made her heart sing and her mind alive with possibilities. Here they ‘found a slice of England in the Hunter Valley’ and created a house of love while exploring the secrets of the Gorge. Although Benjamin ignited her passion for fossils, the findings of English Palaeontologist, Mary Anning, (who in 1823 found the first complete skeleton of the plesiosaur—a sea reptile thought to have superseded the ichthyosaur on England’s Jurassic Coast) spurred her on.
Fast forward to the second and most current timeline (1919), when we meet Penelope Jane Martindale (PJ) strolling along Cromwell Road, London, deep in thought over her lost brothers: sad casualties of war. She is nursing a heart filled with regret, blaming herself for their fateful decision: one that has put her at odds with her father. With the haunting voices of the past fuelling her footsteps, and before heading back to Australia, she returns to the last place she saw Dan and Riley alive: the Natural History Museum. She goes there, seeking answers, hoping to find a connection to their past. So, coming from her own harsh battles of WW1 to relationship battles with her family, PJ embarks on a journey of healing, forgiveness and discovery.
PJ is an intriguing character with a sense that something is out there— just beyond her grasp— waiting to be found and freed. She becomes consumed by the thought of a possible connection between her brothers’ collection from Bow Wow Gorge and the fossil findings on England’s Jurassic Coast. It’s a feeling that drives her to set Sam’s proposal aside and to complete unfinished historical business. PJ, a determined strong willed woman, sets her sights on a mission and must follow it through with whatever evidence she can find.
American Sam has worked with PJ in the warzone and proven himself there, but when we first meet him, he is not necessarily the most likeable character. Over the course of the story, though, he proves himself to be an interesting match with useful skills. His love for PJ is real; his loyalty true. Best of all, his support and devotion help her achieve what she seeks.
I do not want to spoil the charm and surprise of the plotline but will say reading Tea’s novel is like looking at the many threads of a tapestry where some are looped together, others overlapped, entwined, diverging and even merging in the end. This variegated pattern creates many memorable scenes and when the past and present come together, we get one unified whole.
The double historical timeline draws you in from the first page. The reader, like a piece of yarn wrapped around a crochet needle, gets hooked and woven into the story. Each intriguing branch of the plot pulls you into its scenes, where you are not just an observer but feel more like a participant for you walk in the character’s shoes and see through their eyes. Tea is talented with her descriptions and atmospheric settings. The conversations and thoughts of the characters grip your attention so profoundly that you become engrossed in the drama of their lives.
I love how Tea has utilised the historical place of Bow Wow Gorge to create her own magical story. I have stood on distant shores and in faraway castles, closed my eyes and imagined—even sensed the spirit of a place. I’ve felt the presence of those who lived before me; who have stood in the same spots and I have absorbed the personality of the land/sea/mountain scape and then put those elusive emotions into words. Writers can do this in their imagination— to conjure images of the past. And Tea, as an excellent story-teller, has captured and delivered with great gusto all these wonderful bewitching elements through her well-rounded characters and atmospheric scenes.
Not only does Tea’s attention to detail of the two eras help you get lost in the settings but also the tension is precise and keeps you turning the pages as one mystery evolves into another. The plot has many interesting detours and open roads that branch out and carry us to a fascinating climax. The storyline of 1847 sets everything up and takes us so far, but the 1919 thread ultimately provides the answers to the mysteries and questions raised throughout the novel.
One of my favourite lines in the novel: ‘An unbroken thread of connection danced over her, tying her to the place as though she’d brought something precious back into the light.’ The joy of discovery is at the heart of this book: not only in seeking and finding ‘ancient bones’ but also in unearthing people’s historical connections.
This novel is a fresh take on women fossil hunters of the time. The ending offers a surprising twist that many might not expect. And we learn some interesting snippets of Australian history and Aboriginal culture. I admired these robust ladies of 1847 and 1919 as they faced their challenges and found ways to overcome them.
True fans of Tea’s works will happily devour this rich feast and others will enter for the first time her fascinating ring of historical fiction. But both will return, time and time again, to the deep well of this creative story-teller. This is a novel I highly recommend. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
