Curiosity

“Meticulous and deeply affecting. The traps of poverty and class, calcified notions of women’s place in science and society, fall away to reveal the hidden life below: the human mind and heart excavated with delicate and devastating skill.” —Marina Endicott, author of Good to a Fault

“Curiosity is a delight. Set with marvels and rueful comedy, it’s a warmly intelligent feat of historical sympathy. Mary Anning of Lyme Regis, with her dead-reckoning gaze, moves through these pages like a muddy-booted angel.” —Greg Hollingshead, author of Bedlam

“Rich… . [Thomas] practically burrows into the characters. Hers is magnificent prose that appeals to all the senses without grandiloquence. Equally important, Thomas handles the doctrinal debate raised by the then-budding field of geology with [great] subtlety and nuance.” —The Toronto Star

“Right from its powerful opening, the novel buffets readers with the inescapable momentum of waves against the Dorset cliffs… . Curiosity is without question the best novel this reader has come across in the past year… . Lush… . Thomas draws [her] characters with such depth, power, and heart tha they remain with the reader long after the novel’s covers are closed.” —Quill & Quire (starred review)

“Thomas handles beautifully the class-afflicted nuances of a doomed love story.” —More magazine

“A brilliant, soulful, multi-layered novel… . We are drenched in all the sights, sounds and smells of the era [and] become privy to the ecstasy and the agony of the doomed love affair between the two main characters… . Lush prose, compelling narrative and vivid characters [make] this one of the best books of the spring publishing season.” —Ottawa Citizen

“A precise reconstruction of the social and intellectual world of early 19th-century England… .[Thomas’s] research gives the characters depth [and] provides Mary with a delightfully distinctive voice… . A beautifully wrought … work of literary art.” —Winnipeg Free Press

“Extraordinary… . A timeless story, and an unforgettable one.” —Edmonton Journal

“Gripping… . Mary Anning as portrayed by Joan Thomas stands in her own right as a memorable figure, vulnerable and indomitable at the same time.” —National Post

”[Curiosity] explores the exquisite fragility of a love story that turns upon the lovers’ unblinking curiosity before the metaphysical change their work uncovers… . A beautiful, erudite, and deeply pleasurable work.” —The Walrus

JOAN THOMAS’s debut novel, Reading By Lightning (2008), won the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Book (Canada/Caribbean) and the Amazon.ca First Novel Award. Curiosity, her second novel, was also longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Joan has worked as a teacher, group-home worker, editor, and as the Writing and Publishing consultant at the Manitoba Arts Council. She was a books columnist and longtime contributing reviewer for the Globe and Mail, and in 1996 won a National Magazine Award (Silver) for Creative Non-Fiction. Joan’s other works include The Opening Sky and Five Wives. Joan lives in Winnipeg. Visit her website at

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