A TRIP to Dorchester’s Dinosaur Museum could prove responsible for the success of a best-selling novelist’s latest page-turner.

Author Tracy Chevalier took her son Jacob, 10, to the museum and came away with the idea for her new book about a famous Lyme Regis fossil hunter.

The Piddle Valley resident was inspired by the visit to write Remarkable Creatures – the story of Mary Anning’s struggle for recognition in a male- dominated arena.

The book, based on historical fact, is set to thrust fossil hunting on Dorset’s Jurassic coast into the international spotlight.

Tracy said: “It was a rainy day in the half-term holidays about three years ago and I took Jacob there because he really liked dinosaurs at the time.

“There was a section on Mary Anning which I found fascinating because I didn’t really know anything about her and found out that she was a very independent woman.

“I was in the middle of finishing another book at the time and I certainly didn’t go there expecting to get an idea for a new book.”

Set in the 19th century mostly in West Dorset, Remarkable Creatures tells how carpenter’s daughter Mary Anning strikes up a friendship with Elizabeth Philpot, another fossil-obsessed woman.

Dinosaur Museum curator Tim Batty said: “We remember when Tracy came here – it’s lovely to hear that people have been inspired by the museum for their writings about things to do with dinosaurs.

“It’s great that someone like Tracy can visit the museum and come away with all this.”

Tim said that as a 12-year-old, Mary Anning found the first complete skeleton of an ichthyosaur ever discovered.

She left her mark in history with three significant finds in all and died of breast cancer, aged 47.

“Because she was a woman, Mary never really got full recognition for her pioneering work.

“She was very much a woman in a man’s world,” Tim said.

American-born author Tracy is best known for writing Girl With A Pearl Earring, which was turned into a film starring Colin Firth and Scarlet Johansson in 2003.

She carried out research for Remarkable Creatures by fossil-hunting herself in Charmouth and picked up a bit of knowledge. She said: “I’m sure that people here know a lot more about fossil-hunting than I do.

“I imagine I’ll be presented with fossils at some point and told that I’ve got something wrong.”

The book will be discussed in the town where it all started when Tracy visits Dorchester Corn Exchange on Friday, August 28, to talk about and sign copies of Remarkable Creatures.

Tickets for the event, which starts at 7.30pm, are available for £3 from Waterstone’s in Dorchester.