The Fossil Hunter

By: Tea Cooper

Narrated by: Sophie Loughran

Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Critic reviews

"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

Satisfying

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

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.

Too Long

I finally became interested in the story about two thirds in. It could have been shortened and still have the important parts of the story. I did enjoy listening to the descriptions of Australia

Ignited an interest in fossils

I loved everything about this book except those high pitched whiny voices of the young girls.

Unusually not as good.

This is the third Te’a Cooper's books that I have listened to. The first was 'The Woman in the Green Dress' and the second was 'The Girl in the Painting'. They were both WELL done and WELL narrated. However, this did not did not seem to have the same depth as the other two, and I, at least was not as fond of Sophie Logan‘s narration as the narrator for the previous two books. Would not recommend giving any moments of your precious life to this title or performance. Sorry.

Slow Start but Good Narration

The start to this book was very slow. So slow that I almost stopped listening and if it weren’t for the narration, I might have. I don’t like to leave books unfinished so I continued to listen and the pace of the story got better.

Great Nice Historical Story

Beautifully drawn out pace used to get the to the mystery. Really liked the historical footnote.

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.

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.