Specimens by Rosanne Daryl Thomas

SPECIMENS: True and Un-Altered Notes on an Inadvertent Adventure of an Unusual Nature, the Which Contains Sorrow, Death, Danger, Art and Great Happiness

Massachusetts, 1842. With her daughter newly married, Rosamunde Thoroughgood resolves to join her beloved husband, the captain of a small merchant vessel, at sea. When her husband dies suddenly, the mutinous crew maroons Rosamunde, her cat, and her husband’s rotting corpse on a remote island.

Illustrated with real 19th century algae pressings, Rosamunde’s tale is revealed in hasty jottings. Her botanical specimens book evolves into a diary of life-changing adventure from the Azores to the Adriatic, involving kidnappers, forged antiquities, the Hapsburg aristocracy and unexpected love as she grapples with shifting interpretations of truth and invents a powerful, plausible myth.

About the Author: Rosanne’s early career included a New York Times Notable Book and a novel optioned for film by Mick Jagger. But, as happens with so many women, life and family obligations intervened. 

Years later, an inherited 19th-century collection of beautiful algae gathered along the Atlantic shore by an anonymous New England woman inspired Rosanne to write Specimens.  A Hawthornden Literary Institute Fellowship gave her the generous gift of time to begin the book. Rosanne is currently working on new projects, all of which, in one sense or another, involve art, travel and adventure.