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The Coral Thief
Paris, 1815. Napoleon has just surrendered at Waterloo and is on his way to the island of St. Helena to begin his exile. Meanwhile, Daniel Connor, a young medical student from Edinburgh, has just arrived in Paris to study anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes–only to realize that his letters of introduction and a gift of precious coral specimens, on which his tenure with the legendary Dr. Cuvier depends, have been stolen by the beautiful woman with whom he shared a stagecoach.
In the fervor and tumult of post revolutionary Paris, nothing is quite as it seems. In trying to recover his lost valuables, Daniel discovers that his beautiful adversary is in fact a philosopher-thief who lives in a shadowy world of outlaws and émigrés. Daniel’s fall into this underworld is also a flight, for as he falls in love with the mysterious coral thief and she draws him into an audacious plot that will leave him with a future very different from the one he has envisioned for himself, Daniel discovers a radical theory of evolution and mutability that irrevocably changes his conception of the world in which he lives.
In the fervor and tumult of post revolutionary Paris, nothing is quite as it seems. In trying to recover his lost valuables, Daniel discovers that his beautiful adversary is in fact a philosopher-thief who lives in a shadowy world of outlaws and émigrés. Daniel’s fall into this underworld is also a flight, for as he falls in love with the mysterious coral thief and she draws him into an audacious plot that will leave him with a future very different from the one he has envisioned for himself, Daniel discovers a radical theory of evolution and mutability that irrevocably changes his conception of the world in which he lives.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published November 2, 2008
72 people are currently reading
1169 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Stott
26 books255 followersRebecca Stott was born in Cambridge in 1964 and raised in Brighton in a large Plymouth Brethren community. She studied English and Art History at York University and then completed an MA and PhD whilst raising her son, Jacob, born in 1984.
She is the author of several academic books on Victorian literature and culture, two books of non-fiction, including a partial biography of Charles Darwin, and a cultural history of the oyster. She is now a Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. She has three children, Jacob, Hannah and Kezia and has lived in Cambridge since 1993. She has made several radio programmes for Radio Four.
Her first novel, Ghostwalk, is published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in the UK, is the launch novel of the new fiction list of Spiegel and Grau in the US (a new division of Random House) and is being translated into 12 different languages including Russian and Chinese.
She is writing her next novel, The Coral Thief.
She is the author of several academic books on Victorian literature and culture, two books of non-fiction, including a partial biography of Charles Darwin, and a cultural history of the oyster. She is now a Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. She has three children, Jacob, Hannah and Kezia and has lived in Cambridge since 1993. She has made several radio programmes for Radio Four.
Her first novel, Ghostwalk, is published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in the UK, is the launch novel of the new fiction list of Spiegel and Grau in the US (a new division of Random House) and is being translated into 12 different languages including Russian and Chinese.
She is writing her next novel, The Coral Thief.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 369 reviews
February 2, 2012
To me, The Coral Thief promised more than it delivered. The premise is exciting: a young Englishman, Daniel Connor, wants above all to be a scientist and travels to Paris to join the exciting realms of scientific research and thought still blossoming in post-Napoleon Paris in summer 1815. But his life takes a new turn when his precious fossils and manuscript trusted into his care disappear with a mysterious woman on his way to Paris. When tracking the woman and his belongings, Daniel ends up in a world of philosopher-thieves, radical scientific thought, and romance.
I love historical fiction and am fascinated by the history of science and 19th century Paris, and the story seemed original and started out interestingly. Alas, it didn't live up to my expectations. What I loved the most was all the stuff about history of science, and how the early 19th century Paris came alive. The descriptions of revolutionary violence in France were also vividly impressive. Sadly, otherwise the execution of the story was lacking.
The biggest problem for me was the characters. Daniel seemed promising at first, but ends up being a very dull character with no personality and certainly not enough to say to justify his 1st-person point-of-view narrative. He is just a blank slate for whatever the writer wishes to convey at the time; in the beginning he seems deeply passionate about sciences in order to make us sympathetic to his plight when his valuable possessions are lost, but as soon as he falls in love with the mystery woman, he doesn't even care that he's stopped paying attention to his scientific career, and despite all the discussions about sciences, Daniel doesn't seem at all passionate about the subject anymore. He hardly reacts at all to all the revolutionary scientific discussions around him, merely observes them; at one point he obediently asks "Doesn't God exist?" and then doesn't think about it anymore. Despite coming from a very traditional background, he doesn't seem to be at all troubled that he's falling in love with a highly unconventional woman who is a thief, habitually dresses as a man, lives independently and knows much more about sciences than he does. I'm not saying that a man can't love such a woman, but someone with Daniel's background ought to have had some digesting to do about it, or at least remarked on how it surprisingly doesn't bother him.
The mystery woman herself, Lucienne Bernard, would have potential to be interesting, but somehow she's not very convincing either. Maybe she's too much packed into one, maybe she's too much of a 21st century feminist dream come true, maybe she doesn't struggle enough with the limits the world would really pose for her unconventionality, maybe Stott just doesn't know how to make characters vivid and believable. Maybe all of these things. All other characters remain two-dimensional when they ought to be much more than that, and the grisette girlfriend of Daniel's roommate feels more like a post-1960s university student girl than like a 19th century worker woman. Generally, though the pages are filled with history of sciences and details about Paris of 1815 so that part clearly has been researched, Stott fails to make the characters feel like the products of their time. The only really interesting character is the police inspector Jagot who chases our philosopher-thieves. I wish he had been used a bit more.
Also, the plot suffers from some disorientation; it starts out charting the mystery woman and history of sciences but ends up an ordinary crime story about a robbery which doesn't interest me in the least bit and isn't executed very well.
The narrative is also interspersed with scenes about Napoleon's travel to his imprisonment St. Helena. They're well-written and interesting, but not connected to the main story at all, so I don't understand their point.
Stott also suffers from the tendency of many English-speaking writers who write about foreign lands: fulfilling the dialogue with foreign-language (in this case French) words with the belief that this will add "local colour" and feeling of being in that country. It's highly annoying and distracting, and completely unnecessary. I haven't noticed any but English-speakers do this with such frequency, so I blame that they're less used than the rest of us to reading translated books, having so much literature in their own language, and therefore won't believe that the reader doesn't need the constant foreign-language words to believe we're in France. Perhaps it's also because they're not used to speaking foreign languages. I'm not entirely sure why characters who can explain complicated theories of natural sciences in English suddenly feel a need to say things like "Non, vraiment", "Un petit peu" and "Oui" in French. They add nothing to the believability of the story. I believe we're in France if it’s said so and the person and place names are French. When I was recently reading a translation of The Count of Monte Cristo I also didn't need Edmond Dantès to say "Oui" to believe we're in France.
Despite these flaws, the story was a quick and fairly entertaining read with the writing flowing by effortlessly, and I really enjoyed all the scientific and historical stuff. Overall I liked it enough to justify a three-star rating, but no more. I probably will read Stott’s other novel some time, but I won’t be buying her books.
I love historical fiction and am fascinated by the history of science and 19th century Paris, and the story seemed original and started out interestingly. Alas, it didn't live up to my expectations. What I loved the most was all the stuff about history of science, and how the early 19th century Paris came alive. The descriptions of revolutionary violence in France were also vividly impressive. Sadly, otherwise the execution of the story was lacking.
The biggest problem for me was the characters. Daniel seemed promising at first, but ends up being a very dull character with no personality and certainly not enough to say to justify his 1st-person point-of-view narrative. He is just a blank slate for whatever the writer wishes to convey at the time; in the beginning he seems deeply passionate about sciences in order to make us sympathetic to his plight when his valuable possessions are lost, but as soon as he falls in love with the mystery woman, he doesn't even care that he's stopped paying attention to his scientific career, and despite all the discussions about sciences, Daniel doesn't seem at all passionate about the subject anymore. He hardly reacts at all to all the revolutionary scientific discussions around him, merely observes them; at one point he obediently asks "Doesn't God exist?" and then doesn't think about it anymore. Despite coming from a very traditional background, he doesn't seem to be at all troubled that he's falling in love with a highly unconventional woman who is a thief, habitually dresses as a man, lives independently and knows much more about sciences than he does. I'm not saying that a man can't love such a woman, but someone with Daniel's background ought to have had some digesting to do about it, or at least remarked on how it surprisingly doesn't bother him.
The mystery woman herself, Lucienne Bernard, would have potential to be interesting, but somehow she's not very convincing either. Maybe she's too much packed into one, maybe she's too much of a 21st century feminist dream come true, maybe she doesn't struggle enough with the limits the world would really pose for her unconventionality, maybe Stott just doesn't know how to make characters vivid and believable. Maybe all of these things. All other characters remain two-dimensional when they ought to be much more than that, and the grisette girlfriend of Daniel's roommate feels more like a post-1960s university student girl than like a 19th century worker woman. Generally, though the pages are filled with history of sciences and details about Paris of 1815 so that part clearly has been researched, Stott fails to make the characters feel like the products of their time. The only really interesting character is the police inspector Jagot who chases our philosopher-thieves. I wish he had been used a bit more.
Also, the plot suffers from some disorientation; it starts out charting the mystery woman and history of sciences but ends up an ordinary crime story about a robbery which doesn't interest me in the least bit and isn't executed very well.
The narrative is also interspersed with scenes about Napoleon's travel to his imprisonment St. Helena. They're well-written and interesting, but not connected to the main story at all, so I don't understand their point.
Stott also suffers from the tendency of many English-speaking writers who write about foreign lands: fulfilling the dialogue with foreign-language (in this case French) words with the belief that this will add "local colour" and feeling of being in that country. It's highly annoying and distracting, and completely unnecessary. I haven't noticed any but English-speakers do this with such frequency, so I blame that they're less used than the rest of us to reading translated books, having so much literature in their own language, and therefore won't believe that the reader doesn't need the constant foreign-language words to believe we're in France. Perhaps it's also because they're not used to speaking foreign languages. I'm not entirely sure why characters who can explain complicated theories of natural sciences in English suddenly feel a need to say things like "Non, vraiment", "Un petit peu" and "Oui" in French. They add nothing to the believability of the story. I believe we're in France if it’s said so and the person and place names are French. When I was recently reading a translation of The Count of Monte Cristo I also didn't need Edmond Dantès to say "Oui" to believe we're in France.
Despite these flaws, the story was a quick and fairly entertaining read with the writing flowing by effortlessly, and I really enjoyed all the scientific and historical stuff. Overall I liked it enough to justify a three-star rating, but no more. I probably will read Stott’s other novel some time, but I won’t be buying her books.
December 15, 2010
Even though the subject matter interests me, the book did not. I wondered why I was so bored when the setting should be so interesting. The main character and narrator is ridiculously naive in a way that is frustrating and unbelievable. The woman who alters his destiny at no point seems like a real person. Her motivations make no sense. The historical details, while obviously meticulously researched, seem clunky. They should be woven into the fabric of the plot so that the reader absorbs them, but is not taken out of the story. Instead, it seems like the narrative halts from time to time so that a character can explain some historical point in a completely unrealistic way. At several points the narrator breaks into the story to say something like "if I had known _____ then, I would not have done ______," which completely destroys any element of suspense. The majority of the reviews on Goodreads for this book are positive ones, so maybe this book just caught me at the wrong time.
May 23, 2023
4,25 sterren- Nederlandse paperback
Ouote: Toen ik eenentwintig was en per postkoets van Edinburgh naar Parijs reisde met in mijn bagage drie zeldzame fossielen en het bot van een mammoet, geloofde ik nog dat de tijd zich in een rechte lijn bewoog. Het was juli q825, nog maar enkele weken nadat Napoleon bij Waterloo door de geallieerden was verslagen;
Quote: Jagots kleren waren te klein voor zijn grote lichaam. Hij was zwaar gebouwd en bizonder gespierd, al was hij niet meer dan een meter vijfenzestig groot. In die dure maar slecht zittende kleren zag hij eruit als een vrucht waarvan het vel ieder moment kon opensplijten.
Quote: Quote: achter de kamer met sloten, sleutels en stof, de werkplaats van de slotenmaker, die daar al lang niet meer werkte, bevond zich nog een kamer..... "Mijn kabinet" zei ze. Het had een grot onder de zeespiegel kunnen zijn.
Quote: In de bibliotheek van de Galerie d'Anatomie Comparee verdwenen mijn dagen in de minuscule wirwar van Cuviers handschrift, dat ik bladzijde na bladzijde kopieerde, of in delicate inktlijnen waarmee ik het verenkleed van vogels tekende, vleugel na vleugel en snavel na snavel.
Een literaire roman met een kast aan wetenschappelijke grote namen in Parijs in de eerste jaren na de Franse revolutie en Napoleon. Waarin verweven fictieve personages gebaasseerd op dagboeken en andere verslagen. Goede vermening van feiten en fictie. Helaas was het thrillereffect en het slot wat wiebelig waardoor voor mij geen volle 5 sterren.
Ouote: Toen ik eenentwintig was en per postkoets van Edinburgh naar Parijs reisde met in mijn bagage drie zeldzame fossielen en het bot van een mammoet, geloofde ik nog dat de tijd zich in een rechte lijn bewoog. Het was juli q825, nog maar enkele weken nadat Napoleon bij Waterloo door de geallieerden was verslagen;
Quote: Jagots kleren waren te klein voor zijn grote lichaam. Hij was zwaar gebouwd en bizonder gespierd, al was hij niet meer dan een meter vijfenzestig groot. In die dure maar slecht zittende kleren zag hij eruit als een vrucht waarvan het vel ieder moment kon opensplijten.
Quote: Quote: achter de kamer met sloten, sleutels en stof, de werkplaats van de slotenmaker, die daar al lang niet meer werkte, bevond zich nog een kamer..... "Mijn kabinet" zei ze. Het had een grot onder de zeespiegel kunnen zijn.
Quote: In de bibliotheek van de Galerie d'Anatomie Comparee verdwenen mijn dagen in de minuscule wirwar van Cuviers handschrift, dat ik bladzijde na bladzijde kopieerde, of in delicate inktlijnen waarmee ik het verenkleed van vogels tekende, vleugel na vleugel en snavel na snavel.
Een literaire roman met een kast aan wetenschappelijke grote namen in Parijs in de eerste jaren na de Franse revolutie en Napoleon. Waarin verweven fictieve personages gebaasseerd op dagboeken en andere verslagen. Goede vermening van feiten en fictie. Helaas was het thrillereffect en het slot wat wiebelig waardoor voor mij geen volle 5 sterren.
August 17, 2019
I was not fully focused on this book as I was reading it between acts at the Chicago Air and Water Show. Due to rainy conditions many of the featured planes curtailed their plans. Tomorrow should be better. Today I really enjoyed the RAF Red Arrows - Thank you, UK! It was brilliant. Our Blue Angels did not compare due to weather.
The Coral Thief was a mixture - young man from Scotland with youthful ideas (imagine that!) comes to Paris for a scientific research career and is thwarted by a mysterious woman who steals his letter of introduction and other important artifacts...in the timeframe of recent exile of Napoleon. It follows his experiences in Paris and beyond with some very lively action scenes. The focus is scientific thought of the time. The mysterious lady is a superior scientist to the young man and there are scoundrels and thieves everywhere. It may be I was too distracted, but I did not feel like it held together well.
Library Loan
The Coral Thief was a mixture - young man from Scotland with youthful ideas (imagine that!) comes to Paris for a scientific research career and is thwarted by a mysterious woman who steals his letter of introduction and other important artifacts...in the timeframe of recent exile of Napoleon. It follows his experiences in Paris and beyond with some very lively action scenes. The focus is scientific thought of the time. The mysterious lady is a superior scientist to the young man and there are scoundrels and thieves everywhere. It may be I was too distracted, but I did not feel like it held together well.
Library Loan
August 23, 2016
I enjoyed this book, but not as much as I had expected. After all, it's got action, science, history and passion with a mysterious, beautiful, older woman. This should have been something I loved. I did read it quickly, and enjoyed the descriptions of early 1800's Paris and the issues surrounding the disputes around evolution (are species fixed or changing?), but the story hit a lull in the middle and never quite recovered for me. I did like the set-up of having a young man just starting out in life losing all his credentials - that's a very sympathetic character. How can you help but root for him? Very clever. Stott is a good writer, but the book could have been even better. I did like the character of the chief of police who is a former thief on the take (based on a real man), but I think the structure was the main problem for me. The first half of the book involves finding the mystery woman and uncovering why she has taken all of Daniel Connor's materials, the second half involves planning a heist of a stolen diamond and learning about the history of our mystery woman and her friends. I was hoping for more action and / or a longer time line that would have brought us up to the time of Darwin. In other words, this should either have been a great historical adventure story or a cerebral thriller (as was claimed on the cover) that captured and told the full story of the scientific evolution debate. The alternating brief Napolean chapters were interesting, but I don't think they added to the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2014
I can't finish this book. Maybe it's because I read several bad reviews before I even started it. I really did want it to be good. I just don't care about any of the characters, and I'm not even sure the author wants me to care about them. It seems like the author was more concerned with showing off her linguistic prowess than actually making an interesting, readable novel. I am not one to leave a book unfinished, but I really see no point in wasting my time finishing a book that I don't even want to finish, when I could be reading something else. What I read of the book was confusing and sporadic with little to no character development.
abandoned
October 17, 2009Gave up around page 70, not enough to interest me to even slog through it at the gym. Almost cut the cardio short to shorten the pain.
October 4, 2009
If Rebecca Stott’s goal was to create a vivid feel of Paris after the Napoleonic wars, this novel is a complete success. As for the plot and characters she builds this vibrant setting around, they definitely take a backseat in her vivid re-creation. Her story starts as an intriguing mystery novel, young scientist Daniel Connor heads to Paris to study with the greats in a nexus of brilliant and important thought of the day, Paris. On the train into town, he is near hypnotized by a beautiful stranger, and ends up having some priceless fossils stolen from him. When he tries to recover his items, he meets the Police Chief, a corrupt and former master thief who has his own agenda concerning this robbery. The novel quickly morphs into a caper story with who is using whom elements.
This narrative is interspersed with an imagined tale of Napoleon’s journey to exile which Stott doesn’t even bother to connect to the story in any real way beyond a few casual comments. Its almost as if you are watching a an Oceans Elevens/Departed type movie and your spouse keeps changing the channel to an documentary on Napoleon’s exile and Post Revolutionary Paris. You don’t get bored with one program or the other, but the mixture feels somewhat bumpy at best. Daniel Connor also makes one inexpiable decision after another which doesn’t help.
The writing however is great, and Stott consistently uses several phrases that light up. The Police Chief (who is based on fact in a stranger then fiction turn), and some of the scenes that describe Revolutionary violence are the story’s fabulous and moving highlights.
This narrative is interspersed with an imagined tale of Napoleon’s journey to exile which Stott doesn’t even bother to connect to the story in any real way beyond a few casual comments. Its almost as if you are watching a an Oceans Elevens/Departed type movie and your spouse keeps changing the channel to an documentary on Napoleon’s exile and Post Revolutionary Paris. You don’t get bored with one program or the other, but the mixture feels somewhat bumpy at best. Daniel Connor also makes one inexpiable decision after another which doesn’t help.
The writing however is great, and Stott consistently uses several phrases that light up. The Police Chief (who is based on fact in a stranger then fiction turn), and some of the scenes that describe Revolutionary violence are the story’s fabulous and moving highlights.
October 8, 2018
4 Historical & Parisienne stars.
I really enjoyed this story. The atmosphere makes me feel like I'm in Paris again. Although to me there was not much suspense, I did want to keep reading because it really felt like I was there with the characters. Thinking about transformism and how its ideas changed views on religion and the origin of species (pun intended). This is before Charles Darwin wrote his legendary book, but reminds us that he was not the founder of certain ideas although his direction was different than Lamarck's they are similar in consequences for worldviews. If you are like me and interested in evolutionary biology this is already interesting for that part of the story.
The love story and plot line however, about a very well planned crime are making this more fun and less science/history heavy.
I think the very short parts of Napoleon's journey to Saint Helena did not add anything to the story and could have been left out.
Overall a very good book in my opinion.
I really enjoyed this story. The atmosphere makes me feel like I'm in Paris again. Although to me there was not much suspense, I did want to keep reading because it really felt like I was there with the characters. Thinking about transformism and how its ideas changed views on religion and the origin of species (pun intended). This is before Charles Darwin wrote his legendary book, but reminds us that he was not the founder of certain ideas although his direction was different than Lamarck's they are similar in consequences for worldviews. If you are like me and interested in evolutionary biology this is already interesting for that part of the story.
The love story and plot line however, about a very well planned crime are making this more fun and less science/history heavy.
I think the very short parts of Napoleon's journey to Saint Helena did not add anything to the story and could have been left out.
Overall a very good book in my opinion.
November 7, 2022
A very different book in a genre of its own. It gives the reader a view of life in Paris in 1815, the underworld that existed, the changing philosophy of scientific thinking, and morality. The main character, a young medical student from Edinburgh, is pulled into all sorts of intrigue after being robbed by a beautiful woman as he travels to Paris. In an effort to regain his stolen items and embark on his training and career, he finds himself caught in a web of thieves.
September 10, 2009
I was surprised that I enjoyed this book for its historical context. I was never a big fan of history, so historical fiction has never been much of a draw for me, but I wanted to give it a shot. Stott does an excellent job of weaving history in with her story to make both more interesting. I'd go so far as to say it's piqued my interest in this genre and the history of France.
The story was compelling enough to keep me reading, though not necessarily unique or inspired. I enjoyed the main character's submersion into a part of France he likely never thought existed, much less expected himself to stumble into. The characters were well-drawn, though I can see where this book could have been much thicker had each character been fleshed-out a bit more. Still, there was enough of each to wrap my head around and enjoy their interactions.
In short, it was a quick, fun, and interesting read, as well as an enlightening glimpse at post-revolutionary France.
The story was compelling enough to keep me reading, though not necessarily unique or inspired. I enjoyed the main character's submersion into a part of France he likely never thought existed, much less expected himself to stumble into. The characters were well-drawn, though I can see where this book could have been much thicker had each character been fleshed-out a bit more. Still, there was enough of each to wrap my head around and enjoy their interactions.
In short, it was a quick, fun, and interesting read, as well as an enlightening glimpse at post-revolutionary France.
June 6, 2016
Such an interesting story. Full of history in Paris around 1815. Napoleon Bonaparte had just been defeated at Waterloo and was being escorted to the island of St. Helena. This story is about a young man, Daniel Conner, a medical student who had come to Paris to study under Georges Cuvier, a French naturalist and zoologist at the Jardin des Plantes. He falls under the spell of a mysterious woman and their story is woven through all this history of Paris . Bits of the story follow Napoleon on his trip to St. Helena.
The main story is about Daniel and this woman, Lacienne Bernard which is unusual and bohemian to say the least but I was so intrigued with this history of an changing and unsettled Paris I didn't mind, in fact it seemed natural for this place and time.
The main story is about Daniel and this woman, Lacienne Bernard which is unusual and bohemian to say the least but I was so intrigued with this history of an changing and unsettled Paris I didn't mind, in fact it seemed natural for this place and time.
September 10, 2009
I'm a GoodReads winner, and so is The Coral Thief! History, intrique, the cloaked mysterious woman.....I was captivated from the beginning, and then, the one passage that inspired me to finish reading the entire book the very first night I picked it up... "She could have chosen any of us. But she chose me." A brilliantly written novel that reminds us to ask ourselves, " What footprints will I leave behind." You'll enjoy the journey along side the main characters and you'll involve yourself on what it was like to live in a previous time period. Enjoy the ride, and the GoodRead....
Elizabeth
Elizabeth
August 16, 2016
I really wanted to like this book. In fact, I think I am the target audience for this very sub genre of historical fiction, but nothing grabbed me. Connecting with any character or idea in this book was just not possible for me.
October 29, 2023
Interesting, historically accurate story.
February 17, 2023
I really enjoyed the historical setting but the story was a little slow and not as exciting as I had hoped.
August 13, 2012
The plot is based a decade or more after the French revolution and the age of “Terror”, just after Napolean’s defeat at Waterloo. The story follows a young medical student, Daniel Connor, into the bedlam of Paris.
Paris, then, is the beating heart of Europe – the scientific, cultural and political center. As the city is coming to terms with the new regime, students from all over Europe are travelling to Paris to
make their own careers. And Daniel is just one of them– an aspiring researcher; Daniel comes to Paris to work with the famed Dr. Cuvier, with important letters of recommendation and rare fossils as an offering. The story begins with Daniel’s encounter with this dark haired beauty who mysteriously befriends Daniel on his night coach ride to Paris. When the morning comes, she is gone and so are the letters and the fossils. Daniel is devastated and in his interview with the Police Commissioner Jargot , he learns that he encountered Lucienne Bernard – a famous Parisian thief and one of Paris’s most wanted.
I was interested so far…the novel had a lot of promise – mysterious strangers in the night, the bustle of Paris, questions of evolution and background political drama.
Now Daniel bumps into Lucienne again and there is some serious chemistry there. However, intead of reporting to the police, as he had promised, he just comforts her and asks her to return his stuff. Eventually, he predictably falls in love with her and enters her world of Paris.
And this is the part where I begin to lose interest. So somewhere down the line, Lucienne has to do one last job before she can leave this life forever and create a new identify – and then some Ocean’s 11 type of robbery is planned and ….whatever.
It’s really frustrating to give a few hours to some book and then it goes nowhere. Rebecca Scott is a gifted writer – there is no doubt about the beauty of her writing style. I was however, not so impressed by the story teller in her. I could not pin-point the central theme of the novel – it was about everything, yet nothing.
There is another thing that I am noticing more about contemporary literature – all authors, I believe have in the back of the mind a potential movie deal. Hence, their characters become larger than life glamorous beings, there are some really smart dialog exchanges where every character is witty, some fast paced action scenes, great visual affects and ambiguous endings. I wish when they are writing a novel they would not treat it at as a screenplay
But nevertheless, the book wasn’t a total waste of my time, and there was some breathtaking writing. Some of my favorite lines below:
“ People talk about falling among thieves. I fell among thieves in the city of Paris in 1815, except that it didn’t feel like a falling at all – it felt like flight”
“And when the coral spawn, all the other sea organisms follow. It’s like a trigger. The fisherman say it’s the moon that makes them spawn, she had said, and I said: How can they see the moon? They have on eyes. Perhaps they have other ways of seeing and knowing, she had. Perhaps we all do. There’s a grandeur in that.”
Paris, then, is the beating heart of Europe – the scientific, cultural and political center. As the city is coming to terms with the new regime, students from all over Europe are travelling to Paris to
make their own careers. And Daniel is just one of them– an aspiring researcher; Daniel comes to Paris to work with the famed Dr. Cuvier, with important letters of recommendation and rare fossils as an offering. The story begins with Daniel’s encounter with this dark haired beauty who mysteriously befriends Daniel on his night coach ride to Paris. When the morning comes, she is gone and so are the letters and the fossils. Daniel is devastated and in his interview with the Police Commissioner Jargot , he learns that he encountered Lucienne Bernard – a famous Parisian thief and one of Paris’s most wanted.
I was interested so far…the novel had a lot of promise – mysterious strangers in the night, the bustle of Paris, questions of evolution and background political drama.
Now Daniel bumps into Lucienne again and there is some serious chemistry there. However, intead of reporting to the police, as he had promised, he just comforts her and asks her to return his stuff. Eventually, he predictably falls in love with her and enters her world of Paris.
And this is the part where I begin to lose interest. So somewhere down the line, Lucienne has to do one last job before she can leave this life forever and create a new identify – and then some Ocean’s 11 type of robbery is planned and ….whatever.
It’s really frustrating to give a few hours to some book and then it goes nowhere. Rebecca Scott is a gifted writer – there is no doubt about the beauty of her writing style. I was however, not so impressed by the story teller in her. I could not pin-point the central theme of the novel – it was about everything, yet nothing.
There is another thing that I am noticing more about contemporary literature – all authors, I believe have in the back of the mind a potential movie deal. Hence, their characters become larger than life glamorous beings, there are some really smart dialog exchanges where every character is witty, some fast paced action scenes, great visual affects and ambiguous endings. I wish when they are writing a novel they would not treat it at as a screenplay
But nevertheless, the book wasn’t a total waste of my time, and there was some breathtaking writing. Some of my favorite lines below:
“ People talk about falling among thieves. I fell among thieves in the city of Paris in 1815, except that it didn’t feel like a falling at all – it felt like flight”
“And when the coral spawn, all the other sea organisms follow. It’s like a trigger. The fisherman say it’s the moon that makes them spawn, she had said, and I said: How can they see the moon? They have on eyes. Perhaps they have other ways of seeing and knowing, she had. Perhaps we all do. There’s a grandeur in that.”
September 9, 2009
I "won" this book by entering goodreads' first reads drawing. Score! I am fancy and have an advance readers' edition. It's interesting to get a little peek into the book publishing/marketing process. We'll see how the book turns out; I've just started.
******
So I finished the book a couple of days ago and I have to say I was a little disappointed. The premise is fantastic: a British medical student travels to post-Napoleon Paris to study with a scientist whose project consists of painstakingly cataloging all known species on the planet (this is pre-Darwin, but ideas along that vein are discussed). On his way into the city, the medical student's specimens and letter of recommendation to the famous scientist are stolen by a mysterious beautiful woman. As the story progresses, the main character begins to lose the aspects of his identity that he considered formative--his ambition, dedication to work, etc.--because of the theft. Instead, he becomes enmeshed with the woman and the underworld of Paris. (Literally, at the end.)
So this book seemingly has all the ingredients to make me love it: it's well researched; it has an interesting premise; museums are involved...alas. The buildup to the climactic scene takes forever, and the climactic scene itself is short and a letdown. The writing is eh. The characters' relationships make no sense--I don't care how Caravaggio-esque the med student is: there's no way the mystery-beautiful-woman-thief would involve herself with him unless it was only to use him, and that's not what happened. Why are there vignettes of Napoleon's journey to St. Helena interspersed with the rest of the story?
The scientific history aspect was really interesting. I really appreciated how much research went into this novel. I just wish the book had been better executed--it had so much promise.
******
So I finished the book a couple of days ago and I have to say I was a little disappointed. The premise is fantastic: a British medical student travels to post-Napoleon Paris to study with a scientist whose project consists of painstakingly cataloging all known species on the planet (this is pre-Darwin, but ideas along that vein are discussed). On his way into the city, the medical student's specimens and letter of recommendation to the famous scientist are stolen by a mysterious beautiful woman. As the story progresses, the main character begins to lose the aspects of his identity that he considered formative--his ambition, dedication to work, etc.--because of the theft. Instead, he becomes enmeshed with the woman and the underworld of Paris. (Literally, at the end.)
So this book seemingly has all the ingredients to make me love it: it's well researched; it has an interesting premise; museums are involved...alas. The buildup to the climactic scene takes forever, and the climactic scene itself is short and a letdown. The writing is eh. The characters' relationships make no sense--I don't care how Caravaggio-esque the med student is: there's no way the mystery-beautiful-woman-thief would involve herself with him unless it was only to use him, and that's not what happened. Why are there vignettes of Napoleon's journey to St. Helena interspersed with the rest of the story?
The scientific history aspect was really interesting. I really appreciated how much research went into this novel. I just wish the book had been better executed--it had so much promise.
November 11, 2009
In Paris in 1815, everything is changing. Napoleon is in exile, on his way to Saint Helena. France has a king again, and in Paris new streets are being laid, old buildings torn down. The freedoms, or illusions of freedom, of the Revolution are disappearing: Paris is no longer the place where any idea can be expressed. And Daniel Connor, a medical student who does anatomical drawings, is there to see it all: he's come from Edinburgh to study with Georges Cuvier at the Jardin des Plantes. At the start of his trip, though, a woman charms him then steals his luggage, which contains gifts for Cuvier, a manuscript, and a letter of recommendation. Not surprisingly, Daniel has to change his plans, and also not surprisingly, his perceptions of himself and the world change as he stays in Paris and finds out more about both the city and the beautiful thief.
This book's got so much in it that's satisfying: intrigue and romance and intelligence, Napoleon's exile (short sections about his trip to Saint Helena are interspersed with Daniel's story), Lamarck and Cuvier and theories of "transformism" vs. the fixed hierarchy of species, the prehistoric past. (The woman on the mail coach, before taking Daniel's bag, tells him how "the entire Paris basin [...:] was under water thousands of years ago," how "Paris was just a hollow in the seafloor," how what is now a city was once home only to oysters and coral and fish (p 7).) Perhaps most pleasing, to me, was all the description, concrete and exquisite: the streets and markets and quais of Paris, the alleys and ateliers, quail baked with ginger, branching coral, old bones, museum displays, mint tea, the light and the heat and the rain and the cats and the pigeons.
This book's got so much in it that's satisfying: intrigue and romance and intelligence, Napoleon's exile (short sections about his trip to Saint Helena are interspersed with Daniel's story), Lamarck and Cuvier and theories of "transformism" vs. the fixed hierarchy of species, the prehistoric past. (The woman on the mail coach, before taking Daniel's bag, tells him how "the entire Paris basin [...:] was under water thousands of years ago," how "Paris was just a hollow in the seafloor," how what is now a city was once home only to oysters and coral and fish (p 7).) Perhaps most pleasing, to me, was all the description, concrete and exquisite: the streets and markets and quais of Paris, the alleys and ateliers, quail baked with ginger, branching coral, old bones, museum displays, mint tea, the light and the heat and the rain and the cats and the pigeons.
December 9, 2009
It’s 1815 and Daniel Connor, fresh out of medical school in Edinburgh, is full of excitement as he arrives in Paris to begin a research assignment at the famed Jardin des Plantes botanical garden and museum under renowned Dr. Cuvier. On his journey he meets a mysterious and alluring woman who tantalizes him with intriguing discussions of “transformism,” the beginnings of evolutionary theory. But it turns out that beauty has disguised her real intent. When Daniel wakes from an ill-advised nap he discovers that his introductory papers and his prized coral specimens have been stolen. Seeking restitution, fearing that his career will be finished before it begins, Daniel goes to the police and meets with feisty Jagot, a former criminal now turned investigator, who has a long and violent history with Daniel’s mystery lady, Lucienne Bernard.
Author Rebecca Stott also captures the electric atmosphere of new ideas that pervaded post-revolutionary Paris as Daniel and Lucienne and their friends toss about philosophies and theories just evolving at that time. But all intellectual ideas fall by the wayside as Daniel must choose between his burgeoning career and his deep love for Lucienne.
Stott also creates a wonderful blend of action, history and passion; weaving in real people, philosophies and events as Daniel becomes enmeshed in Jagot’s pursuit of Lucienne. The book even includes period drawings to complement descriptions of the vast collection of artifacts that Napoleon had amassed during his reign. The Coral Thief is a great story for fans of historic fiction who like an intricate plot and a touch of romance.
Author Rebecca Stott also captures the electric atmosphere of new ideas that pervaded post-revolutionary Paris as Daniel and Lucienne and their friends toss about philosophies and theories just evolving at that time. But all intellectual ideas fall by the wayside as Daniel must choose between his burgeoning career and his deep love for Lucienne.
Stott also creates a wonderful blend of action, history and passion; weaving in real people, philosophies and events as Daniel becomes enmeshed in Jagot’s pursuit of Lucienne. The book even includes period drawings to complement descriptions of the vast collection of artifacts that Napoleon had amassed during his reign. The Coral Thief is a great story for fans of historic fiction who like an intricate plot and a touch of romance.
November 23, 2020
3.5 stars.The Coral Thief sounded amazing: set in 1815 Paris, while Napoleon is on his way to exile on Saint Helena, Daniel Connor, a young Scottish medical student is on his way to the French capital to begin work with Lamarck, a leading scientist of the time who believed all species are fixed. Rival scientists are advancing the idea of transmutism, which would become known as evolution. On his way to Paris, Connor meets a mysterious and entrancing woman who ends up stealing his letters of introduction, a valuable manuscript, and several very valuable fossils. We end up following Connor through the chaotic, lively Paris of the time as he tries to find the woman, recover his stolen objects, and begin the next step of his career. He ends up falling in love and being drawn into a web of corrupt policemen and less-corrupt outlaws and assisting in a daring heist. Despite all of the elements at work here: historical fiction, romance, and mystery, the novel sometimes seemed to hop between them without delving deeply enough to really engage me, and the main character was never developed as much as I would have liked. He was more a story-telling device than a stand alone character with believable or discernible motivations. I enjoyed it and learned a lot about Paris and science of the time, but I feel it could have been better woven together as it seemed sometimes to alternate quite abruptly between entertaining novel and informational history.
August 26, 2011
If you like your historical fiction to be filled with vivid imagery, then Rebecca Stott is the author to read. One review went so far as to say that she has created a new genre--the historical, scientific, romance-thriller. In The Coral Thief we are taken to Paris of 1815, shortly after the defeat of Napoleon by the British Navy at Waterloo and about twenty years after the French Revolution. Rebecca said that she spent time in the Rare Books Room at Cambridge Library where she came across an 1815 guidebook to Paris, hence her so vivid portrayal of the city. Daniel Connor is a young medical student from Edinburgh who goes to Paris to study anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes. But all of his introductory documents and specimens get stolen before he can begin his tenure with the famed Dr. Cuvier. Daniel ends up falling in love with his 'thief' who challenges his view of the world at a time when all of Europe is in a pre-Darwin evolutionary debate. The Transformist idea that species are not fixed but changing all of the time becomes a central theme through the book. This was a fascinating time period and place to be in the world, and Rebecca takes you back to this time in history so enjoyably.
March 15, 2020
Unconvincing beginning and end but otherwise enjoyable.
After a rather unconvincing beginning (what are the chancesof meeting someone really knowledgeable in your particular area of scientific expertise on a mail coach), the novel gets really interesting, primarily thanks to a realistic description of the place and the times (research clearly pays off). The fast pace is useful with respect to the plot, as there are some jumps that are difficult to fathom. Despite such hiccups, it remains enjoyable until the final scene in the Parisian quarries: we know htat there will be deaths faked but we never learn how. This may add to the mystery surrounding some of the key characters but at the same time seems too easy and vague.
Beyond the dramatic core, the book is also a commentary on the then state of the art in science. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to side with proponents of evolution but the author generally avoids heroic portrayals and romantic views, presenting instead a subtle account of contrasts and conflicts with established scientific principles. This commentary does not interfere with the plot, except perhaps at the end of the book. It's useful to have such frameworks in historical novels but they shouldn't dominate critical parts of the story.
After a rather unconvincing beginning (what are the chancesof meeting someone really knowledgeable in your particular area of scientific expertise on a mail coach), the novel gets really interesting, primarily thanks to a realistic description of the place and the times (research clearly pays off). The fast pace is useful with respect to the plot, as there are some jumps that are difficult to fathom. Despite such hiccups, it remains enjoyable until the final scene in the Parisian quarries: we know htat there will be deaths faked but we never learn how. This may add to the mystery surrounding some of the key characters but at the same time seems too easy and vague.
Beyond the dramatic core, the book is also a commentary on the then state of the art in science. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to side with proponents of evolution but the author generally avoids heroic portrayals and romantic views, presenting instead a subtle account of contrasts and conflicts with established scientific principles. This commentary does not interfere with the plot, except perhaps at the end of the book. It's useful to have such frameworks in historical novels but they shouldn't dominate critical parts of the story.
August 11, 2019
It's strange how books come into ones reading stack that have similarities to each other without ones intention of reading similar books in setting or subject. In the last month I have read four books that had been on my library hold list that were set in England or France during the last years of the Napoleonic era. This is one of these. The novel starts off slowly, and I was tempted to send it back to the library but the story picked up. I have a real problem not finishing a book I have started even though it's terrible. I always have a compulsion to continue reading in the hope I will find something that will redeem the book. There are many novels out there about the Nazis looting of Europe's treasures, but very little about the historical looting that was carried on in every war since the beginning of wars - the spoils of war goes to the victor. Also we believe that only in this century is knowledge manipulated for greed and power. People who say that scientific knowledge is absolute only have to look at history to know that view is false. This novel shines light on the sometimes ruthlessness of the scientific community.
December 20, 2009
I thought this book took a fresh approach. It's a crime novel from the criminals' perspective and the author makes these criminal protagonists interesting and sympathetic. They aren't Robin Hood types, but Lucienne the philosopher/thief belongs to the French aristocratic class that was the object of the Scarlet Pimpernel's mission during the revolution. So Lucienne might be considered peripherally related to Baroness Orczy's counter-revolutionary hero. Yet the attitude toward the revolution in this novel is complex and ambivalent. I enjoyed the political and intellectual stew in which the novel fermented itself along with the plot and counter plot intrigue.
February 12, 2017
The Coral Thief combines a jewel caper, history, science, and just a soupcon of romance into one novel. Set during the aftermath of the French Revolution, it features a young British man traveling to Paris to work for Cuvier as he catalogs species. He gets caught up in the conflict between a mysterious woman and the head of the French secret police, and in the course of attempting to work his way free, gets entangled further - and learns quite a lot.
I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction and/or is interested in the history of science.
I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction and/or is interested in the history of science.
September 4, 2009
I had a hard time reading this book. Events jumped around too quickly for me to follow, but perhaps that was the author's intent. I wasn't drawn to any of the characters. The story itself was intriguing, but it was a hard read to get through. For me, it wasn't one of those books that I just couldn't put down. It was just okay.
January 27, 2012
I really enjoyed The Coral Thief as a historical fiction piece (though the characterization could have been stronger, imo). Stott provided many fascinating facts about the Paris scientific community after the fall of Napoleon, specifically lots of emerging thought around the ideas of transmutation & evolution. Recommended for those who enjoy historical fiction w/ a dose of science.
September 9, 2012
Interesting beginning, it ropes you in. But, the story is slow going from then on. Not enough excitement or satisfactory resolution at the end...bit of a let down for an old gal like me. I did enjoy the Napoleon references...amusing.
January 8, 2010
Very enjoyable - period fiction (1815 Paris) with lots of well-researched science history and political history and just enough intrigue and romance to liven it up.
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