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The Coral Thief

3.14 of 5 stars 3.14 · rating details · 893 ratings · 239 reviews

Paris, 1815. Napoleon has just surrendered at Waterloo and is on his way to the island of St. Helena to begin his exile. Meanwhile, Daniel Connor, a young medical student from Edinburgh, has just arrived in Paris to study anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes–only to realize that his letters of introduction and a gift of precious coral specimens, on which his tenure with the l...more

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Published by George Weidenfeld & Nicholson (first published January 1st 2009)

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The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

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Mar 15, 2012 Alison Moore rated it 2 of 5 stars

Like several other reviewers I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I’d hoped, and the plot and characters failed to come alive for me, despite the author’s impeccable credentials (she’s Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia). I found it hard to engage with the book even though it has plenty of winning elements, which have worked well in other novels. There’s the Paris coming of age novel in which a young man comes to Paris and falls in love with an o...more Like several other reviewers I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I’d hoped, and the plot and characters failed to come alive for me, despite the author’s impeccable credentials (she’s Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia). I found it hard to engage with the book even though it has plenty of winning elements, which have worked well in other novels. There’s the Paris coming of age novel in which a young man comes to Paris and falls in love with an older woman (Flaubert’s A Sentimental Education is one example). There are echoes of Les Miserables: criminal viewed with sympathy who has depth and strength of character, the wily and determined Paris policeman whose pursuit of the criminal is a central motif of Hugo’s novel as well as in The Coral Thief , and who have very similar names (Javert and Jagot), an underground chase (sewers in Les Miserables ; catacombs in The Coral Thief). Wilkie Collin’s Moonstone also comes to mind, in which a central feature of the plot is the recovery of a lost diamond of great value.

Add to this the gripping and well-researched story of the ‘evolution of evolution’ (or at least of the understanding of the theory) and of the political turmoil of the time, and the book should be guaranteed success. So why has its reception been lukewarm, judging from the average star ratings and the sentiments expressed in other reviews?

For me there are several factors. I wonder if the novel arose more out of the author’s academic interest in the qualities of a good novel and in the need for historical fiction to be well researched, and less out of creative impulse. I had the impression of a meticulous collecting together of the various elements and devices of a successful novel, which are then impeccably arranged just like the carefully catalogued and classified collections of species in the museums of the collectors in the period in question. Everything is in place, but the life force isn’t in it, any more than it is in a collection of stuffed birds, however much it can teach the observer. Victorian women loved to make scrapbooks, and this novel has the feel of a scrapbook, put together with love and care but no substitute for the life the women were perhaps missing.

I have to admit, too, to being put off by books which are published with reading groups in mind - wit a list of questions for discussion. I love to discuss books with others, but I am less than comfortable with being given such obvious pointers to what I 'should' be looking for - a touch of post-adolescent resistance creeps in, even decades after my teenage years have disappeared

Finally, I wonder if anyone has noticed what seems to be the writer’s debt to George Eliot’s Middlemarch, some of whose characters’ interests echo those in The Coral Thief – like Lucienne Dorothea Brooke is an intellectual young woman (though her circumstances are very different, and Daniel Connor has something in common with Tertius Lydgate – not least because he settles eventually in Derbyshire and makes his career there. He even marries someone called Celia, in whose father’s library he was permitted to browse. Last, but not least, there’s a description in The Coral Thief on page 37 of a woman in the Louvre of ‘a woman dressed in grey seated nearby. Her long cloak, fastened at the neck, was thrown back from her arms, and one beautiful ungloved hand pillowed her cheek. Her white bonnet made a halo around her braided dark-brown hair. She was not looking at the paintings; her large eyes were fixed dreamily on a streak of sunlight that fell across the floor.’ Compare this with the description of Dorothea Casaubon in Rome, in Chapter 19 of Middlemarch, ‘… a breathing, blooming girl, whose form … was clad in Quakerish grey drapery; her long cloak, fastened at the neck, was thrown backward from her arms, and one beautiful ungloved hand pillowed her cheek, pushing somewhat backward the white beaver bonnet which made a sort of halo to her face around the simply braided dark-brown hair. She was nt looking at the sculpture, probably not even thinking of it: her large eyes were fixed dreamily on a streak of sunlight that fell across the floor.’

This cannot be a coincidence, but it’s hard to tell whether Rebecca Stott inserted this description of a woman who plays no part at all in the plot as an ‘in-joke’ for literary readers or for members of reading groups, or whether she is herself employing a ‘scrapbook’ approach in which cut-out figures can be positioned anywhere in one’s composition. Either way, my attention had been caught by this description, which had more life in it than the text thus far, and I was disappointed to find that this woman did not feature further in The Coral Thief. It was only because of the Middlemarch connection at the end that it crossed my mind that the woman might be meant for Dorothea. A bit of checking revealed the uncanny similarity. And maybe it was a subliminal awareness of the change of style from the rest of The Coral Thief that was the trigger for my interest in this woman. No doubt about it – George Eliot wrote well!
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Oct 17, 2009 Misfit marked it as abandoned

Shelves: get-it-from-the-library

Gave up around page 70, not enough to interest me to even slog through it at the gym. Almost cut the cardio short to shorten the pain.

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Sep 10, 2009 Elizabeth Richards rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm a GoodReads winner, and so is The Coral Thief! History, intrique, the cloaked mysterious woman.....I was captivated from the beginning, and then, the one passage that inspired me to finish reading the entire book the very first night I picked it up... "She could have chosen any of us. But she chose me." A brilliantly written novel that reminds us to ask ourselves, " What footprints will I leave behind." You'll enjoy the journey along side the main characters and you'll involve yourself on wh...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Vipula rated it 2 of 5 stars

The plot is based a decade or more after the French revolution and the age of “Terror”, just after Napolean’s defeat at Waterloo. The story follows a young medical student, Daniel Connor, into the bedlam of Paris.
Paris, then, is the beating heart of Europe – the scientific, cultural and political center. As the city is coming to terms with the new regime, students from all over Europe are travelling to Paris to
make their own careers. And Daniel is just one of them– an aspiring researcher; Daniel...more The plot is based a decade or more after the French revolution and the age of “Terror”, just after Napolean’s defeat at Waterloo. The story follows a young medical student, Daniel Connor, into the bedlam of Paris.
Paris, then, is the beating heart of Europe – the scientific, cultural and political center. As the city is coming to terms with the new regime, students from all over Europe are travelling to Paris to
make their own careers. And Daniel is just one of them– an aspiring researcher; Daniel comes to Paris to work with the famed Dr. Cuvier, with important letters of recommendation and rare fossils as an offering. The story begins with Daniel’s encounter with this dark haired beauty who mysteriously befriends Daniel on his night coach ride to Paris. When the morning comes, she is gone and so are the letters and the fossils. Daniel is devastated and in his interview with the Police Commissioner Jargot , he learns that he encountered Lucienne Bernard – a famous Parisian thief and one of Paris’s most wanted.
I was interested so far…the novel had a lot of promise – mysterious strangers in the night, the bustle of Paris, questions of evolution and background political drama.
Now Daniel bumps into Lucienne again and there is some serious chemistry there. However, intead of reporting to the police, as he had promised, he just comforts her and asks her to return his stuff. Eventually, he predictably falls in love with her and enters her world of Paris.
And this is the part where I begin to lose interest. So somewhere down the line, Lucienne has to do one last job before she can leave this life forever and create a new identify – and then some Ocean’s 11 type of robbery is planned and ….whatever.
It’s really frustrating to give a few hours to some book and then it goes nowhere. Rebecca Scott is a gifted writer – there is no doubt about the beauty of her writing style. I was however, not so impressed by the story teller in her. I could not pin-point the central theme of the novel – it was about everything, yet nothing.
There is another thing that I am noticing more about contemporary literature – all authors, I believe have in the back of the mind a potential movie deal. Hence, their characters become larger than life glamorous beings, there are some really smart dialog exchanges where every character is witty, some fast paced action scenes, great visual affects and ambiguous endings. I wish when they are writing a novel they would not treat it at as a screenplay
But nevertheless, the book wasn’t a total waste of my time, and there was some breathtaking writing. Some of my favorite lines below:
“ People talk about falling among thieves. I fell among thieves in the city of Paris in 1815, except that it didn’t feel like a falling at all – it felt like flight”
“And when the coral spawn, all the other sea organisms follow. It’s like a trigger. The fisherman say it’s the moon that makes them spawn, she had said, and I said: How can they see the moon? They have on eyes. Perhaps they have other ways of seeing and knowing, she had. Perhaps we all do. There’s a grandeur in that.”
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Oct 18, 2011 Miles rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I enjoyed this book, but not as much as I had expected. After all, it's got action, science, history and passion with a mysterious, beautiful, older woman. This should have been something I loved. I did read it quickly, and enjoyed the descriptions of early 1800's Paris and the issues surrounding the disputes around evolution (are species fixed or changing?), but the story hit a lull in the middle and never quite recovered for me. I did like the set-up of having a young man just starting out in...more

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Aug 26, 2011 Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you like your historical fiction to be filled with vivid imagery, then Rebecca Stott is the author to read. One review went so far as to say that she has created a new genre--the historical, scientific, romance-thriller. In The Coral Thief we are taken to Paris of 1815, shortly after the defeat of Napoleon by the British Navy at Waterloo and about twenty years after the French Revolution. Rebecca said that she spent time in the Rare Books Room at Cambridge Library where she came across an 181...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Becky Rose rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: History lovers, science lovers

Listened to this Historical Fiction book. Set in 1815 in Paris after Napoleon was captured the second time. A story of love and ideas. Subject matters include transmutation or evolution, the bible, crime, the museums, science, collaboration with other countries, stealing treasures back, the french revolution. I had no idea the war was so bloody, lasted so long, had so many people killed at the guillotine. The streets of Paris literally ran with blood. The cruelty was immense. The collections of...more

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Feb 18, 2011 Paul Pessolano rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book should rightfully be catagorized as historical/fiction. It is set against a backdrop of post revoluntionary Paris. It also parallels Napoleon's surrender at Waterloo and his exile to St. Helena.

Daniel Conner, a medical student, has been sent from Edinburgh to Paris to study anatomy at the famed Jardin des Plantes. He is entrusted with his letter of introduction, a gift of precious coral, and a rare fossil to be given to his mentor Dr. Cuvier.

On his way to Paris he is accompanied by a b...more

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Dec 15, 2010 Kristen rated it 1 of 5 stars

Even though the subject matter interests me, the book did not. I wondered why I was so bored when the setting should be so interesting. The main character and narrator is ridiculously naive in a way that is frustrating and unbelievable. The woman who alters his destiny at no point seems like a real person. Her motivations make no sense. The historical details, while obviously meticulously researched, seem clunky. They should be woven into the fabric of the plot so that the reader absorbs them,...more

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Dec 04, 2010 Jane rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed

Daniel Connor, a very bright young man, is a student from Edinburgh Medical School, and he is setting out on a great adventure.

He is going to Paris.

Paris at a turning point in its history. The year is 1815. Napoleon has been defeated and the city is occupied by his conquerors. Change is in the air.

Daniel is travelling on the mail-coach, carrying letters of introduction to the great Georges Cuvier, professor of comparative anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes.

He is carrying rare fossils to the profe...more

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Nov 18, 2009 Brenda Rupp rated it 4 of 5 stars

What a fabulous story. This author did so much research and had so much history included in this little book. The beginnings of medical discovery's about how man evolved and animals also evolved over thousands of years. The author included in this little book also many facts about Napoleon, and his part in how things came about, his belief that coral proved how long the earth had been in existence. His leading the medical men of the time to believe they needed to study coral, animals, everything...more

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Sep 25, 2009 Morris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In 1815, Paris had become the center for learning throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Napoleon Bonaparte had already surrendered and was on his way to exile on St. Helena. But France was still the benefactor of his quests for knowledge as well as conquest. Many of the world's priceless works of art and science had been removed from their original homes and housed in France.

Daniel Connor worked hard to receive a recommendation allowing him to travel to Paris and study with the famous Bar...more In 1815, Paris had become the center for learning throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Napoleon Bonaparte had already surrendered and was on his way to exile on St. Helena. But France was still the benefactor of his quests for knowledge as well as conquest. Many of the world's priceless works of art and science had been removed from their original homes and housed in France.

Daniel Connor worked hard to receive a recommendation allowing him to travel to Paris and study with the famous Baron Cuvier. Armed with a letter of recommendation and valuable gifts, including priceless coral specimens for the Baron, Daniel set out for Paris. Along the way he met a beautiful woman that intrigued him with controversial thoughts of the world being much older than was believed at the time. All of this, before stealing his papers and priceless coral specimens.

The Coral Thief delivers an intricate mystery set amidst the turmoil following the French Revolution. I found it fascinating to read about the French citizens hoping and wishing for Napoleon to be rescued and returned to power. Those thoughts and feelings are missing from most English versions of history concerning Napoleon. It makes sense that the people who benefited from his conquests would remain followers.

I enjoyed the characters, especially the mysterious thief and philosopher Lucienne and the semi corrupt investigator Jagot. The book is told from Daniel Connor's point of view and the descriptions are vivid. The reader gets to experience Paris anew through Daniel's eyes.

The underlying scientific debate concerning evolution is insightful. Daniel's role model, Baron Cuvier, is strongly against while Daniel's lover, Lucienne, lays out many reasons to support her theories of transformism. Daniel's struggle over this is representative of the time period. The research Rebecca Stott put into the science delivers for the reader.

I truly enjoyed this book. It has just the right mix of romance, mystery, science and historical setting. This book will appeal to a wide variety of readers.

About the author:

Rebecca Stott was born in Cambridge in 1964. She completd an MA and PhD at York University. She is now a professor of English literature and creative writing at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. She is the author of the novel Ghostwalk and a biography, Darwin and the Barnacle. She is currently working on a third historical fiction novel about London watermen in the 1880s.(less)

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Dec 01, 2009 Ken Vaughan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical

The year is 1815. Napoleon is on his way to St. Helena, and Daniel Connor is nearing Paris, having left Edinburgh with important specimens and documents which will insure his admittance to the Jardin de Plantes to study anatomy. He meets an enigmatic woman on his coach, but discovers, after waking from a short sleep, that she has stolen the material, including some rare coral, from his case. Thus begins a search, a passionate love affair, and a reluctant connection to a group of rebels and intel...more

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May 09, 2010 Jolene rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is set in Paris in 1815, shortly after Napoleon has surrendered at Waterloo and while he is making his journey to exile in St. Helena. The main character is Daniel Connor, a young man who is a medical student travelling from England, in order to study in Paris. He arrives during a time when scientific theories are being redefined and challenged on a regular basis and often in seeming contrast to the belief system his family has instilled in him.
The author gives strong historical backgr...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: france-paris, crime-thriller-spy-stuff

Paris, 1815. Napoleon is banished to St. Helena for good. Foreign armies camp on the Champs-Elysees and hang out at the Palais Royal. A sheltered young English researcher arrives to work at the Jardin des Plantes. He ends up in the quarries underneath the city, an accomplice to a group of “philosopher-thieves.”

The most interesting character here is the city of Paris itself. As one walk-on character says, “’Paris is an ocean . . . . You’ll never reach the bottom of it.’” The author brings to life...more

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Nov 11, 2009 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, library-books, historical-fiction

In Paris in 1815, everything is changing. Napoleon is in exile, on his way to Saint Helena. France has a king again, and in Paris new streets are being laid, old buildings torn down. The freedoms, or illusions of freedom, of the Revolution are disappearing: Paris is no longer the place where any idea can be expressed. And Daniel Connor, a medical student who does anatomical drawings, is there to see it all: he's come from Edinburgh to study with Georges Cuvier at the Jardin des Plantes. At the s...more

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Feb 02, 2012 Katri rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-novel

To me, The Coral Thief promised more than it delivered. The premise is exciting: a young Englishman, Daniel Connor, wants above all to be a scientist and travels to Paris to join the exciting realms of scientific research and thought still blossoming in post-Napoleon Paris in summer 1815. But his life takes a new turn when his precious fossils and manuscript trusted into his care disappear with a mysterious woman on his way to Paris. When tracking the woman and his belongings, Daniel ends up in...more To me, The Coral Thief promised more than it delivered. The premise is exciting: a young Englishman, Daniel Connor, wants above all to be a scientist and travels to Paris to join the exciting realms of scientific research and thought still blossoming in post-Napoleon Paris in summer 1815. But his life takes a new turn when his precious fossils and manuscript trusted into his care disappear with a mysterious woman on his way to Paris. When tracking the woman and his belongings, Daniel ends up in a world of philosopher-thieves, radical scientific thought, and romance.

I love historical fiction and am fascinated by the history of science and 19th century Paris, and the story seemed original and started out interestingly. Alas, it didn't live up to my expectations. What I loved the most was all the stuff about history of science, and how the early 19th century Paris came alive. The descriptions of revolutionary violence in France were also vividly impressive. Sadly, otherwise the execution of the story was lacking.

The biggest problem for me was the characters. Daniel seemed promising at first, but ends up being a very dull character with no personality and certainly not enough to say to justify his 1st-person point-of-view narrative. He is just a blank slate for whatever the writer wishes to convey at the time; in the beginning he seems deeply passionate about sciences in order to make us sympathetic to his plight when his valuable possessions are lost, but as soon as he falls in love with the mystery woman, he doesn't even care that he's stopped paying attention to his scientific career, and despite all the discussions about sciences, Daniel doesn't seem at all passionate about the subject anymore. He hardly reacts at all to all the revolutionary scientific discussions around him, merely observes them; at one point he obediently asks "Doesn't God exist?" and then doesn't think about it anymore. Despite coming from a very traditional background, he doesn't seem to be at all troubled that he's falling in love with a highly unconventional woman who is a thief, habitually dresses as a man, lives independently and knows much more about sciences than he does. I'm not saying that a man can't love such a woman, but someone with Daniel's background ought to have had some digesting to do about it, or at least remarked on how it surprisingly doesn't bother him.

The mystery woman herself, Lucienne Bernard, would have potential to be interesting, but somehow she's not very convincing either. Maybe she's too much packed into one, maybe she's too much of a 21st century feminist dream come true, maybe she doesn't struggle enough with the limits the world would really pose for her unconventionality, maybe Stott just doesn't know how to make characters vivid and believable. Maybe all of these things. All other characters remain two-dimensional when they ought to be much more than that, and the grisette girlfriend of Daniel's roommate feels more like a post-1960s university student girl than like a 19th century worker woman. Generally, though the pages are filled with history of sciences and details about Paris of 1815 so that part clearly has been researched, Stott fails to make the characters feel like the products of their time. The only really interesting character is the police inspector Jagot who chases our philosopher-thieves. I wish he had been used a bit more.

Also, the plot suffers from some disorientation; it starts out charting the mystery woman and history of sciences but ends up an ordinary crime story about a robbery which doesn't interest me in the least bit and isn't executed very well.

The narrative is also interspersed with scenes about Napoleon's travel to his imprisonment St. Helena. They're well-written and interesting, but not connected to the main story at all, so I don't understand their point.

Stott also suffers from the tendency of many English-speaking writers who write about foreign lands: fulfilling the dialogue with foreign-language (in this case French) words with the belief that this will add "local colour" and feeling of being in that country. It's highly annoying and distracting, and completely unnecessary. I haven't noticed any but English-speakers do this with such frequency, so I blame that they're less used than the rest of us to reading translated books, having so much literature in their own language, and therefore won't believe that the reader doesn't need the constant foreign-language words to believe we're in France. Perhaps it's also because they're not used to speaking foreign languages. I'm not entirely sure why characters who can explain complicated theories of natural sciences in English suddenly feel a need to say things like "Non, vraiment", "Un petit peu" and "Oui" in French. They add nothing to the believability of the story. I believe we're in France if it’s said so and the person and place names are French. When I was recently reading a translation of The Count of Monte Cristo I also didn't need Edmond Dantès to say "Oui" to believe we're in France.

Despite these flaws, the story was a quick and fairly entertaining read with the writing flowing by effortlessly, and I really enjoyed all the scientific and historical stuff. Overall I liked it enough to justify a three-star rating, but no more. I probably will read Stott’s other novel some time, but I won’t be buying her books.
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Feb 24, 2010 Asho rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-but-do-not-own

I was disappointed when I finished reading this book because I realized I have now read both of Stott's books and she has yet to write anything else for me to read next.
Unlike Ghostwalk, this book was true historical fiction, set completely in the past, in Paris in 1815. Daniel comes from Edinburgh to work in the Jardin des Plantes, where he becomes involved with a savant thief and her friends. I've always been more of an Anglophile and my French history is a bit rusty, so I liked diving into th...more

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Oct 28, 2010 Joy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

A novel about the history of natural history. A medical student traveling to Paris in 1815 to work for Cuvier meets a woman on the coach who steals his credentials, his fossils, and the work he's already completed for his patron. In the course of attempting to get them back, he is drawn more and more into the life of the thief, who becomes his lover, her circle of disreputable friends, and the corrupt head of the Security bureau who must be both placated and outwitted in a daring, double-crossin...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Kelsey Burnette rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was my first experience listening to a book rather than actually reading it. For the first time, I felt like the time I spend in my car driving to and from work everyday was well spent, though I must confess, I miss NPR. I spaced out several times, but overall was able to focus and very much enjoyed this book. The first chapter really sucks you in--it's so mysterious and beautifully written. I don't think any of the subsequent chapters really measured up, but definitely worth reading. You r...more

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Aug 22, 2010 Crissy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked up this book looking for a little adventure/escape from everyday stress. This was not the right book for that job (anyone have a good fantasy to recommend?) What this book was good at was making me think about the impact that the theory of evolution had both politically, and socially on the world at the time of its introduction. I have never had a problem recociling my religious beliefs and scientific understanding of evolution, but through the lens of this book started to understand ho...more

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Mar 14, 2010 Lynda Irene rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a wonderful setting for the story, Paris around 1800. The lead protagonist was a strong, smart, beautiful, mysterious 'older' woman, with a younger lover. She loved and was driven by her love of the search for the truth of time and natural history. The natural world was feverishly being collected and categorized in the attempt to chronicle 'everything'. Conclusions were being drawn about relationships between species and time that were not correct, but widely accepted at the time. Luciea, t...more

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Dec 09, 2009 Laura Stone Johnson rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

It’s 1815 and Daniel Connor, fresh out of medical school in Edinburgh, is full of excitement as he arrives in Paris to begin a research assignment at the famed Jardin des Plantes botanical garden and museum under renowned Dr. Cuvier. On his journey he meets a mysterious and alluring woman who tantalizes him with intriguing discussions of “transformism,” the beginnings of evolutionary theory. But it turns out that beauty has disguised her real intent. When Daniel wakes from an ill-advised nap he...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Matti rated it 3 of 5 stars

Wellwellwell.
An ambitious book this certainly is, and the materials could well have made it wonderful. A very special time in intellectual and political history, and a viewpoint that certainly isn't the mainstream history-class story. Great background research, and lovely insights into how our present worldview has roots and seeds we are usually not aware of. A nice mystery/rogue story, with romance, and a growing-up story too. Good language, fine description. A well imagined Paris that is no mo...more

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Jan 23, 2010 Bettie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fraudio, france, historical-fiction, published-2009, sciences, britain-scotland, winter20092010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 16, 2011 Rich Kulesus rated it 2 of 5 stars

In essence: Evolution-savvy cougar/thief Lucienne Bernard preys on naïve and shallow wannabee scientist Daniel Connor in an era when the theories of transformation and evolution come to head.

The succulent language and well-investigated, era-appropriate, scenery and conversations are conquered by an overtly predictable plot. There's also the pungent, lingering taste on your tongue that someone's attempting to cram their ideology down your throat. Stott's protagonist is an unbelievable, witless pu...more

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Sep 11, 2012 Kerrie Grain rated it 4 of 5 stars

As an academic and expert on the history of science/evolutionary theory, Rebecca Stott certainly knows her stuff and this novel is expertly researched and well written. However the storyline and its outcome are a little predictable and though I wanted to, I just didn't enjoy this as much as I did 'Ghostwalk'. The 'difficult second novel' I guess, and though I didn't enjoy it as much her first it was still worth a read. I like Stott's novels because they are informative as well as being good lite...more

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Apr 02, 2011 Jason Page rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a great work of historical fiction blending a tale of the close of the Napoleonic era with a classic coming of age tale. If you enjoy impecabbly researched historical fiction with a good heist tale then this is a book that is very much worth your time. On a midnight carriage ride from Calais to Paris a young English doctor talks with a beautiful woman about coral, animals, and the beginning of the universe. He falls asleep on the carriage and when he awakens he discovers that his corals...more

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Sep 09, 2009 Brenna rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, art-and-or-museums

I "won" this book by entering goodreads' first reads drawing. Score! I am fancy and have an advance readers' edition. It's interesting to get a little peek into the book publishing/marketing process. We'll see how the book turns out; I've just started.

******

So I finished the book a couple of days ago and I have to say I was a little disappointed. The premise is fantastic: a British medical student travels to post-Napoleon Paris to study with a scientist whose project consists of painstakingly ca...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Meenoo rated it 3 of 5 stars

I finished The Coral Thief last night. It's a smart, engaging book on a time period I don't really think about, (right after the Napoleonic Wars and the French Revolution) but of course, so critical. For me the best parts of the book was Lucienne's character (a fascinating woman) and the community of natural philosophers who were arguing about the pre-Darwin evolution. I studied the history of science in college, so I really loved the setting of the story in the time before Darwin, with Lamarck'...more

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About Rebecca Stott

Rebecca Stott was born in Cambridge in 1964 and raised in Brighton in a large Plymouth Brethren community. She studied English and Art History at York University and then completed an MA and PhD whilst raising her son, Jacob, born in 1984.

She is the author of several academic books on Victorian literature and culture, two books of non-fiction, including a partial biography of Charles Darwin, and a...more

More about Rebecca Stott...

Books by Rebecca Stott

Darwin's Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution

Darwin and the Barnacle: The Story of One Tiny Creature and History's Most Spectacular Scientific Breakthrough

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“On July 29, six days after I had arrived in Paris, Fin and I moved into the new lodgings on the top floor of the hotel next door, where, beyond the pigeons who occupied the window ledge, you could see the turrets of Notre Dame. The concierge told us not to feed the birds, but we gave them our stale bread just the same, and so our flock became a feathered multitude, pushing and shoving one another behind the cracked glass. In the afternoons the light seemed to have feathers in it.” — 4 people liked it

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The Coral Thief

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