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The Evolutionist: A Novel
Available for order at bookstores and online at Indigo, Amazon, the Book Depository and other online retailers
(publication date: November 2014)

1858. The Malay Archipelago. A young British naturalist, Alfred Wallace, toils in obscurity amid these remote tropics. He collects specimens − beetles, moths, ants and birds − that sell for pennies apiece in England. 

One night, suffering from fever and hallucination, Wallace solves the greatest mystery of the era: the origin of species. To circulate his discovery, he contacts a distant acquaintance -- Charles Darwin. Unbeknownst to Wallace, Darwin has been secretly penning a near-identical version of the same evolutionary theory for twenty years. Darwin soon achieves world-renown and Wallace earns, if nothing else, widespread grudging respect. But then Wallace returns to England where his advocacy for ideas ranging from socialism to spiritualism launches him on a collision course with the men at the very heart of the scientific establishment, including Darwin. 

From oppressive jungle to mid-Victorian London, The Evolutionist tells of one man’s determination to see
k out his own truths in his own unique way − and the price he pays.

Published by Aurora Metro Books 

For more information about Alfred Wallace, I recommend The Alfred Russel Wallace Page created by Dr. Charles H. Smith, Western Kentucky University, as well as the Alfred Russel Wallace Website curated by Dr. George Beccaloni, Natural History Museum, London.
Alfred Wallace in Singapore, 1862 (age 39)
Map showing Alfred Wallace's travels in the Malay Archipelago 1854-62
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