Diane Smith's acclaimed novels feature strong heroines, memorable characters, surprising revelations from the natural sciences, and an original perspective on the American West. Set in 1876, right after the Battle of Little Big Horn, her new novel tells of Eleanor Peterson, a scientific illustrator in her late thirties, and her friend and mentor Augustus Starwood, an aging portrait painter with a passion for Shakespeare, who join a diverse band of adventurers heading west to Montana to work on a dinosaur fossil dig. Told through Eleanor's remembrances years later, the story recounts the experiences of this ambitious and at times contentious field crew, as they argue over prevailing theories of evolution, contend with rival scientists, and worry about Indians moving north after their defeat of Custer. A vivid portrait of both the natural environment and the issues and ideas of the time, Smith's novel is ultimately a story of personal discovery, revealing the redemptive power of the land and its rivers.
AWARD
| 2002 Montana Book Award
"Diane Smith strips away the usual myths and brings readers a sensitive and intriguing view of the nineteenth-century West." —The Denver Post
"Brilliantly imagined, Diane Smith's novel is a complex journey not only through time but through the emotional labyrinths of love and loss." —Kim Barnes
Diane Smith is the author of two award-winning novels with a third in the works. Her first book, Letters from Yellowstone, won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Fiction Prize, was a One Book Montana statewide read, and was featured in several city-wide reads and on NPR’s “Living on Earth.” Her second novel, Pictures from an Expedition, won the first-ever Montana Book Award and was featured on NPR’s “Themes and Variations.” Smith has a PhD in history, with an emphasis on the history of science, the environment, and the American West.
View titles by Diane Smith
Diane Smith's acclaimed novels feature strong heroines, memorable characters, surprising revelations from the natural sciences, and an original perspective on the American West. Set in 1876, right after the Battle of Little Big Horn, her new novel tells of Eleanor Peterson, a scientific illustrator in her late thirties, and her friend and mentor Augustus Starwood, an aging portrait painter with a passion for Shakespeare, who join a diverse band of adventurers heading west to Montana to work on a dinosaur fossil dig. Told through Eleanor's remembrances years later, the story recounts the experiences of this ambitious and at times contentious field crew, as they argue over prevailing theories of evolution, contend with rival scientists, and worry about Indians moving north after their defeat of Custer. A vivid portrait of both the natural environment and the issues and ideas of the time, Smith's novel is ultimately a story of personal discovery, revealing the redemptive power of the land and its rivers.
Awards
AWARD
| 2002 Montana Book Award
Reviews
"Diane Smith strips away the usual myths and brings readers a sensitive and intriguing view of the nineteenth-century West." —The Denver Post
"Brilliantly imagined, Diane Smith's novel is a complex journey not only through time but through the emotional labyrinths of love and loss." —Kim Barnes
Author
Diane Smith is the author of two award-winning novels with a third in the works. Her first book, Letters from Yellowstone, won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Fiction Prize, was a One Book Montana statewide read, and was featured in several city-wide reads and on NPR’s “Living on Earth.” Her second novel, Pictures from an Expedition, won the first-ever Montana Book Award and was featured on NPR’s “Themes and Variations.” Smith has a PhD in history, with an emphasis on the history of science, the environment, and the American West.
View titles by Diane Smith
