A showing of dinosaur bones, dubbed The Great Exhibition of 1851, serves as the catalyst for Ashworth's latest novel (after Winter Garden), a tangled romance between a blue-collar paleontologist and a young, high society widow. Professor Nathan Price has made the discovery of a lifetime—an intact Megalosaurus jawbone fossil. Before he has the chance to reveal the treasure to his peers, however, he's distracted by Mimi Marsh, the golden-haired daughter of a famous dinosaur sculptor. The two take a stroll outside and share a brief kiss, but when Nathan returns to his senses and to his precious jawbone, he discovers that the fossil is missing. Two years later, Nathan comes to Mimi with a plan to reestablish himself in the field and discover the identity of the person who ruined him. A talented dinosaur sculptor in her own right, Mimi never stopped loving the disgraced professor, and she agrees to help him in the hopes of rekindling their romance. Though highly sensual, their romance is impeded by Nathan's perennial mistrust of Mimi, who had a strong motive to steal the fossil, and by Mimi's tiresome seduction attempts. Ashworth aptly conveys the impact that fossil discoveries had on Victorian society, but her characters lack the sympathetic dimensions and intelligence of those of her previous novels. (Dec. 4)
