Remarkable Creatures

Mary Anning narrates how she was struck by lightning as a young child. A storm blew up when she was in a field, and a woman grabbed her and sheltered with her under a tree. Mary felt the lightning strike the tree; it killed the woman who had tried to help her and two other girls standing nearby, but Mary survived. As a child, she suffered from poor health, but after the lightning strike, her health improved. She says she can still feel the electricity coursing through her body, especially at important times in her life. She feels the electric surge when she hunts for fossils on the beach, so she becomes a fossil hunter.

This chapter is narrated by Elizabeth Philpot. She is one of four sisters; their brother, John, became their guardian after their parents died. Their family isn’t wealthy and only has money to marry off one of the sisters, who is named Frances. Elizabeth says she and her other two sisters, Margaret and Louise, are plain and aren’t likely to marry. When John marries, the sisters are expected to move out of the family home in Red Lion Square in London, allowing John’s wife to become the lady of the house.