Deborah Heiligman's joint autobiography of Charles and Emma Darwin is written for a Young Adult audience. My book club decided to read it because it is the absolute favorite book of an older member. Though interesting, I am afraid Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith (#854) would never even make my top One Hundred Book List.
The main thrust of the book is how the Darwins managed to have a happy marriage despite Charles' loss of faith in God as Creator or organized religion in general as he voyaged on The Beagle and began to formulate his theory of evolution. Emma, on the other hand, who was deeply religious for most of her life, fretted over whether they would ever meet again in the next world (Always supposing that there was one!) if he was not a believer. The author never does satisfactorily resolve that issue here. They die fourteen years apart with no revelations on Emma's part as she breathes her last. Where does that leave Ms. Heiligman's target audience of teenagers? Believe or don't? I suppose that one could argue that Charles Darwin was given a hero's funeral and buried in Westminster Cathedral, with his books and journals never having been out of print since their publication, so perhaps one might come down on the side of the unbelievers here. Hmm...
I will leave this overly saccharine tome to those who prefer to leave critical thinking aside.
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