The Origin — Irving Stone

Darwin, the discoverer, did not mean to rock the world. He meant only to know the truth. But before he was done, Charles Darwin would shake the faith of centuries...would be reviled as a fiend, denounced as a madman - and finally hailed as a genius. His long-time love affair and marriage to his cousin Emma Wedgewood Darwin, is one of the most delightful and fulfilling romances that history affords. His life was a storm-swept voyage of discovery - from the moment when as a raw youth he set sail on a five-year journey around the entire globe to his final years and epochal explorations into the ultimate mystery of human origins. Now Charles Darwin is brought to life in a superlative novel that captures not only the man himself but the Victorian age that produced him. These pages reveal the drama and passion of a human being struggling with doubts and fears, beset by the prejudices of his era and by unguessed-at dangers.