The Naturalist, by Christina Dudley: Book Review of a Regency Romance with Science

Reviewed by Brenda S. Cox

“Not for young ladies were hunting, fishing, dam-building, the rearing of hedgehogs, or the dissection of water snakes, all of which Alice was caught doing at one point or another. ‘No respectable young gentleman will saddle himself with you unless you hide these unmaidenly interests,’ grumbled her father. ‘You have not portion enough that anybody would overlook fossils in your pocket or frog guts on your hem.’”–The Naturalist, by Christina Dudley

I’ve been writing a lot of serious posts about Austen churches, over at Jane Austen’s World. So I want to share something lighter with you today. I really enjoyed this Regency romance with a strong element of science, The Naturalist, by Christina Dudley.

Alice Hapgood loves natural science. She has taught herself about the animals and plants of her estate. When she gets too old to go out into the fields and woods as a young lady, she dresses as a boy and continues her adventures, catching and identifying fish, frogs, butterflies, and bugs.

Then Joseph, a young naturalist, comes to Somerset.  Sent by the Royal Society to inventory the flora and fauna of the region, he needs an assistant. Alice can’t resist pretending to be young “Arthur” so that she can learn from Joseph. And Joseph finds “him” an excellent pupil and helper, despite his unaccountable refusal to remove his hat, his tendency to fall in the mud, and his obvious mistruths.

But of course, Alice can’t keep her secret forever. Will Joseph despise her for unladylike behavior, or fall in love with her? Can a woman become a naturalist? If Joseph marries Alice to salvage her reputation, will he have to give up his dreams of being a naturalist, and become a country clergyman instead? Gilbert White and Caroline Herschel come into the story, in ways that are perhaps predictable but still lovely.

The book gives a great picture of science, and women’s place in it (or lack thereof), as well as a thread of faith. The story is well-written, compelling, and fun, with moments of laughter.

Quotes from The Naturalist, by Christina Dudley

“Certainly, you are Alice,” said the curate. “You know that, and I know that, and God knows that. And so we must wait and see how Alice will be Alice, and how she will come to say with the Psalmist that, ‘The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.’”

“It was a dinner he would remember his whole life long, for more reasons than one. At the head of the table presided the most famous astronomer in the world, William Herschel, to whom all other leading lights in the field had been forced to give way. To his right was Miss Herschel, of her comets and Star Catalogue, the first woman in all Britain to earn a professional salary from the king for contributions to science. To his left was Sir Edmund, organizer of the largest, most ambitious natural history undertaking the country had seen. And across the board sat no less than the President of the Royal Society and onetime explorer with Captain Cook, Sir Joseph Banks himself, who surveyed the young man through keen eyes under heavy white brows. . . . The conversation ranged from Herschel’s researches into deep space and nebulae, to chemist Humphry Davy’s recent illness after his marvelous lectures on electricity, to the ongoing war and its effects on the pursuit of knowledge.”

“Miss Hapgood came to her passion on her own and without benefit of a formal education such as I received. Nevertheless, I would say I have learned as much from her as she from me. . . . Miss Hapgood—if given the opportunity—could bring as much credit to the field of natural history as—as Miss Herschel has to the study of astronomy.”

“We would not deprive our soon-to-be reverend companion this marvelous view of the heavens. If you did not believe it before, Joseph, you soon will—we live in an age of wonders.”

“I have a sermon for you: ‘Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?’”

I enjoyed this book as much the second time as the first time I read it. It is available through Kindle Unlimited, as well as in paperback.

The Naturalist by Christina Dudley