Book description
the story of Syms Covington, Darwin's manservant on the Beagle and
afterwards. Last century Charles Darwin set out on a voyage in the
Beagle that would change forever the way human history was viewed. It
was on this voyage that Darwin collected the information that gave birth
to his controversial Theory of Evolution. This is a novel of scientific
discovery, of religious faith, of masters and servants, and of the
endless wonder of the natural world. But its greatest triumph is
Covington himself, the boy who looked up at the beckoning figure of a
yellow-haired Christian in the stained glass window in his boyhood
church of Bedford, and sought to follow. He leaves Bedford as a lad of
13 and goes to sea with the evangelical sailor John Phipps and becomes
one of Phipps' 'lads'. But Phipps' catechising can't repress Covington's
passage into manhood, nor prevent him chasing the exotic native maidens
of Tierra del Fuego. When next he returns to sea it is to serve on the
Beagle. Mr Darwin's Shooter re-creates the voyage of the Beagle, where
Covington spends time exploring -- and collecting specimens -- inland.
And we travel on to the Galapagos Islands, with their huge turtles and
armadillos and remarkable finches. Years later, in Sydney's Watson's Bay
in beset middle age, Covington awaits the arrival of the first copy of
Darwin's The Origin of Species, which contains the scandalous theory of
evolution. What part of his life might be in it? What truths may it
contain? How can one man absorb the meaning of Creation? Roger
McDonald is a highly distinguished and prize-winning Australian writer
of eight novels and two works of non-fiction. When Colts Ran, his most
recent novel, was shortlisted for the 2011 Miles Franklin Prize, the
2011 Victorian Premier's Prize, and the 2011 Prime Minister's Prize.
Before that, The Ballad of Desmond Kale won the Miles Franklin award in
2006 and the Adelaide Festival Prize for Fiction in 2008. Other
prize-winning books include Mr Darwin's Shooter, Shearers' Motel, and
1915 which became an ABC-TV series.
