The Naturalist's Daughter
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
A woman's bungled act of kindness sparks a chain of events that reverberates through the generations uncovering secrets, lies and the biggest scientific controversy of the nineteenth century, the classification of the platypus.
Two women, a century apart, are drawn into a mystery surrounding the biggest scientific controversy of the nineteenth century, the classification of the platypus.
1808 Agnes Banks, NSW
Rose Winton wants nothing more than to work with her father, eminent naturalist Charles Winton, on his groundbreaking study of the platypus. Not only does she love him with all her heart, but the discoveries they have made could turn the scientific world on its head. When Charles is unable to make the long sea journey to present his findings to the prestigious Royal Society in England, Rose must venture forth in his stead. What she discovers there will change the lives of future generations.
1908 Sydney, NSW
Tamsin Alleyn has been given a mission: travel to the Hunter Valley and retrieve an old sketchbook of debateable value, gifted to the Mitchell Library by a recluse. But when she gets there, she finds there is more to the book than meets the eye, and more than one interested party. Shaw Everdene, a young antiquarian bookseller and lawyer, seems to have his own agenda when it comes to the book but Tamsin decides to work with him to try and discover the book's true provenance. The deeper they delve, the more intricate the mystery becomes.
As the lives of two women a century apart converge, discoveries rise up from the past and reach into the future, with irrevocable consequences…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two women fight to reveal the truth about a scientific discovery in this crackling novel from Cooper (The Talented Mrs. Greenway). In 1808 New South Wales, Rose Winton loves accompanying her naturalist father, Charles, to observe platypuses. Nine years later, Charles plans to present proof that the platypus is an egg-laying mammal to the Royal Society in London. After Charles is attacked by a venomous male platypus, laying him up for months, he entrusts 18-year-old Rose to take his sketchbook containing their observations to England and present them to famed naturalist Sir Joseph Banks. In a parallel story line set in 1908, New South Wales librarian Tamsin Alleyn learns of Winton's sketchbook, which an elderly woman donated to the library just before she died. After Tamsin examines the book, she works with aspiring book dealer Shaw Everdene to uncover why Charles never received credit for his findings about the platypus's reproductive system. Cooper shifts seamlessly from Tasmin and Shaw's sleuthing to Rose's ill-fated trip to England, where she uncovers family secrets and learns her life is at risk. The author keeps readers guessing as she connects the two plot strands, each of which abounds with exciting scenes, including a chase on a windswept moor that evokes The Hound of the Baskervilles. This is one not to miss.
