Summary

The book begins on page 4, with a quote from Francis Darwin, “In her presence he found his happiness, and through her, his life” (4). The first three pages are a foreword from another author explaining the unique viewpoint of this book. Page 5 begins Chapter 1: “Better Than a Dog” (5). Every chapter begins with a quote at the start of it, from one of the characters in the book, usually about Darwin, and roughly covering the contents of the next chapter. Chapter 1 begins with a quote from Charles Darwin’s father, Dr. Robert Darwin, “Why the shape of his head is quite altered” from 1836, in reference to Charles’s “five-year voyage” (5).

The book opens as Charles Darwin, in the summer of 1838 sat in a rented room in London writing a “Marry” and “Not Marry” list (5). He was in his later twenties, and had been back from...