Sign in with FacebookJane's Reviews > The Coral Thief
The Coral Thief
by Rebecca Stott
by Rebecca Stott
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 professor and dreaming of forging his own successful career in Paris.
But dreams are easily derailed.
A young woman, her face obscured by her cloak, takes the seat next to Daniel. She introduces herself. Her name is Lucienne, and she is a student of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle.
The two travellers are students of two prominent men with opposing views of evolution and inheritance.
Coincidence? No!
Daniel falls asleep and when he wakes both his specimen case and his fellow traveller have vanished. Disaster!
But then Lucienne reappears. Why? Of course Daniel follows her, hoping to recover his losses, and hoping to learn more about the coral thief.
He finds himself caught up in an extraordinary mystery in underground Paris.
The course of his life is changed.
It’s wonderful tale of drama, passion, art, science ….. and theft.
Daniel drew me in. I shared his excitement on his way to Paris, his attraction to Lucienne, his distress at his loss, his anxiety at what to do when he arrives in Paris, his anger when he sees Lucienne again …..
I couldn’t find the same connection with Lucienne, but she was a wonderful creation, a compelling character with a wonderful story.
But Paris was the star. A wonderful city at a wonderful point in its history came back to life. The mail-coach. the streets. The museums. The underground passages. I saw the bright lights, I saw the dark shadows, and I saw everything in between.
And I met a wonderful cast of characters. Students, spies, policemen, philosophers, revolutionaries …..
So much history, so much knowledge, so much story.
This really is a book that sings!
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 professor and dreaming of forging his own successful career in Paris.
But dreams are easily derailed.
A young woman, her face obscured by her cloak, takes the seat next to Daniel. She introduces herself. Her name is Lucienne, and she is a student of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle.
The two travellers are students of two prominent men with opposing views of evolution and inheritance.
Coincidence? No!
Daniel falls asleep and when he wakes both his specimen case and his fellow traveller have vanished. Disaster!
But then Lucienne reappears. Why? Of course Daniel follows her, hoping to recover his losses, and hoping to learn more about the coral thief.
He finds himself caught up in an extraordinary mystery in underground Paris.
The course of his life is changed.
It’s wonderful tale of drama, passion, art, science ….. and theft.
Daniel drew me in. I shared his excitement on his way to Paris, his attraction to Lucienne, his distress at his loss, his anxiety at what to do when he arrives in Paris, his anger when he sees Lucienne again …..
I couldn’t find the same connection with Lucienne, but she was a wonderful creation, a compelling character with a wonderful story.
But Paris was the star. A wonderful city at a wonderful point in its history came back to life. The mail-coach. the streets. The museums. The underground passages. I saw the bright lights, I saw the dark shadows, and I saw everything in between.
And I met a wonderful cast of characters. Students, spies, policemen, philosophers, revolutionaries …..
So much history, so much knowledge, so much story.
This really is a book that sings!
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read The Coral Thief.
sign in »
