Colorado territory and Denver society in this romance are equally homes for Martha Jankowski who, in the 1870s, learns to be a paleontologist. The social rules are SET IN STONE like fossils – women can’t work on digs, and those of high and low stations lead separate lives. Martha is a young woman after my heart, as she sets about breaking many rules. 

Chaperoned even during student lectures and one of few women present, Martha inherited a love of fossils from her kind father. But her relationship with her parents changed while she was a child, and her businessman father now seems obsessed with money and fame. A governess filled the motherly role and ensured young Martha could play piano, dress appropriately and sip tea with the best folks. Martha feels most at home on a dig, and spends as much time as she can in quarries, despite her chaperone’s protests.

Jacob Duncan is another student, although not wealthy, who takes the job of helping to unearth a dinosaur. A contest to find a complete skeleton, for a museum exhibit and a considerable sum of money, is underway. This reflects the truth, often underhanded, of the nineteenth-century Bone Wars, with fictional characters. Jacob and Martha start on opposing sides but are destined to find romance. The sensational discoveries are compelling for scientists and people of faith alike, and some of the chapters deal with how these people try to reconcile the scriptures and stories of floods with the evident age of the earth and bones they uncover. As Jacob learns a strong faith while growing up, he talks with Martha even while labouring for another team. That may not work out well.

I didn’t read the first book in the Treasures Of The Earth series yet, but I’ll be interested to find out how the series started, in advance of women participating in digs. As we see, the only reason a woman could be present is if her family owned the endeavour. Sensational finds were worth big money, which perpetuated the situation. Money also incites crime, and a strong suspense element runs through the already compelling action. Not alone is sabotage suspected, but a murder or two occurs, with a Pinkerton agent investigating.

The fossil quarries of Utah and Colorado are strongly realised by Kimberley Woodhouse, who provides quotes from Earl Douglass, the man whose work is preserved today at Dinosaur National Monument. SET IN STONE shows us that life does change, and love will find a way to win.