The Fossil Hunter

De: Tea Cooper

Narrado por: Sophie Loughran

Buried secrets. An ancient fossil. And one woman's determination to unravel a nineteenth-century mystery.

Australia, 1847. The last thing Mellie Vale remembers before the fever takes her is sprinting through the bush with a monster at her heels—but no one believes her. In a bid to curb Mellie's overactive imagination, her benefactors send her to visit a family friend, Anthea Winstanley. Anthea is an amateur paleontologist who is convinced she will one day find proof that great sea dragons swam in the vast inland sea that covered her property millions of years ago. Mellie is instantly swept up in the dream.

Australia, 1919. Penelope Jane "PJ" Martindale arrives home from the battlefields of World War I intent on making peace with her father and commemorating the deaths of her two younger brothers in the trenches. Her reception is disappointing. Desperate for a distraction, she finds a connection between a fossil at London's Natural History Museum and her brothers' favorite camping spot. But the gorge has a sinister reputation: seventy years ago, several girls disappeared from the area. When PJ uncovers some unexpected remains, she's determined to find answers about what happened all those years ago ... and perhaps some closure on the loss of her brothers.

Weaving together these two timelines, The Fossil Keeper offers everything you love: history, mystery, suspense, romance, and startling discoveries that will keep the listener hooked.

Praise for The Fossil Hunter:

"This elegant dual narrative historical from Cooper follows a young woman as she pieces together the fate of a 19th-century paleontologist ... Cooper's confident prose and deep empathy for her characters will keep readers hooked as she unspools her intrigue-filled mystery. Historical fans will want to dig this one up."—Publishers Weekly

• Tea Cooper is a USA TODAY bestselling and Daphne du Maurier award-winning author
• Full-length historical mystery
• Stand-alone novel

©2022 Tea Cooper (P)2022 Harper Muse

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Beautiful writing makes way for a beautiful story in The Fossil Hunter by Tea Cooper. With the same care a paleontologist unearths a fossil, Cooper has crafted a historical mystery that reveals itself layer by layer, piece by piece, and secret by secret. Highly entertaining and much recommended!"—Jenni L. Walsh, author of Becoming Bonnie and The Call of the Wrens

"This elegant dual narrative historical from Cooper (The Cartographer's Secret) follows a young woman as she pieces together the fate of a 19th-century paleontologist . . . Cooper's confident prose and deep empathy for her characters will keep readers hooked as she unspools her intrigue-filled mystery. Historical fans will want to dig this one up.'"—Publishers Weekly

"Inspired by real Victorian female fossil hunters, Cooper fills the page with strong and intriguing female characters. There's a soupçon of romance, but the real focus is on these trailblazing women. Highly recommended for all libraries."—Booklist

tedious teen angst

Girl in the Painting, also by Cooper, is an interesting story, well read. But it's tedious teen angst dragged heavily on the story, especially early on. Of course, character development is important, But Cooper provide endless detail about the girls travails, many trivial. So, after an hour or so of Fossil Hunter, I could not longer stand the tedium and gave it up. I good tough editor could significantly improve this book. Or classify it for teens.

A pretty good listen (3 stares).

I had some difficulty feeling involved with this story, but I liked the premiss and stuck with it. It was past halfway before things got more interesting. The ending didn't wow me and I wasn't sure how I felt about listening to the whole story.

Satisfying

The story told in this novel is perhaps too predictable but ultimately satisfying. The historical context certainly adds to the interest.

Not for me.

This book should have also had the category listed of "youth and young adult", due to the story line, as well as the narration. I listened for quite a while and gave it a chance, but finally had to give up.

Excellent tale of Australian fossil hunting.

Unlike normal, I read the description for this book prior to purchasing the audiobook and while it was true to the description it was a lot more than what I gleaned from that description. First off for the first third of the book I wasn’t entirely sur what was going on with the story, but as each chapter unfolded, I got more engrossed in the story until I found myself fully immersed in this multi-timeline tale. I’ve never read any of Tea Cooper’s books, but if they are all like The Fossil Hunter, I’d be open to reading all of them. Her ability to manage two timelines with very well-developed characters in each, not to mention weaving three story arcs between those timelines was a master stroke. As for the narrator, Sophie Loughran did an excellent job delivering the story, not to mention bringing each of the characters to life.

Mystery and intrigue

Excellent duo timeline. The story of how a fossil discovered at London's Natural History Museum leads one woman back in time to nineteenth-century Australia and a world of scientific discovery and buried secrets.

the fossil hunter

enjoyed it a lot, loved the way it ended, good story line would recommend it

Great Story

This story was a great deal of fun set in the 1840's then in 1919 Australia, with a short stint in London's natural history museum and Lyme Regis in tribute to Mary Anning. Primarily a female cast playing out roles, uncommon for the time, of paleontologists, cold case detectives and war time ambulance drivers. My only issue was that of the narrator. It was difficult to follow who was speaking as her vocal diversity was not very large. You really have to pay attention, otherwise the listener could easily get lost in the who, what, when and where.

A fun story that’s good for archaeology fans. Could’ve been better but was still enjoyable

I really liked the setting of the story, both the location and the time periods. I liked the characters as well and, as someone who enjoys archaeology, I thought this stayed pretty realistic to the science, hopefully without losing people’s interest.

I had hoped for a better climax and exposition in the earlier timeline story and was a bit disappointed at the lack of excitement and explanation when there was such a great setup for one, but it was still an enjoyable read and I learned a few things. The narrator has an Australian accent and did a good job with the characters from both time periods

Remarkable moving story

The Fossil Hunter
by Tea Cooper
An amazing book about the nature of dreams and fossils in the minds of scientists. The book shows the dynamic system of fossil hunting. In the past of fossil hunting is fraught with controversy as women and children were absorbed with fossil hunting their collections are not recognized. The power of men in the late 1800's and early 1900's is changing their power is waning. Women struggle to be seen, appreciated, and understood. The book is written outside Wollombi Australia in Hunter valley. The fossils in the English museum shows how they are great fossils are found in the Hunter Valley.
The duel timeline shows the mystery of the story and its hint that it affects the history. The story shows the nature of war, and how it affects the survivors and the family left behind. Both era's shows the repercussions of the war, and struggles of the world.
There were times in this book that I had to stop. I did not want events to occur that I envisioned to happen. I was so connected with the characters I wanted their story to be happy. There were times when I thought It was going to be so bad for these characters.