The Evolutionist; The Strange Tale of Alfred Russel Wallace
This biographical historical novel is based on the life of Alfred Russell Wallace, and it takes the reader on an expedition into the mind and work of one of the less celebrated and renowned heroes of 19th-century natural history.
The portrait that the author paints of the life of Wallace, hunting and cataloguing new species in Brazil and Sarawak in Borneo, is one of hardship and adventure. However, his hazard-filled fateful sea voyage is shown to be in many respects far less challenging for him than the world of academic societies such as the Entomological and the Linnaean Societies, which abounded in Victorian London and that he had to confront.
The character of Wallace is finely drawn and contrasts well with the minor, but more appealing characters such as Henry Bates, Charles Darwin and the crew of the ill-fated ship Helen. Wallace is a convincing character, and although the reader may feel sympathy for his comparatively humble origins and lack of patronage, he is also far from likeable. His treatment of, and lack of understanding for, his younger brother is only one example of Wallace’s selfish behaviour.
However, his “unlikeability” does not detract from this novel’s appeal, because it is brimful of factual details about the processes and methods of collecting, identifying and preserving examples of newly discovered species, and also of the difficulties of presenting new and radical ideas about evolution. This novel will appeal to any reader interested in the minutiae of the lives of the intrepid Victorian specimen hunters.