To the Edge of the World - Book 3

by Harry Thompson

Available for the first time in three separate volumes, To the Edge of the World is a seafaring adventure in the tradition of Patrick O’Brian. Harry Thompson shows how the modern world was born, not in a laboratory, but on a storm-beset ship and out of a welter of ignorance, heroism and tragedy. His novel charters the lives of Captain Robert FitzRoy and Charles Darwin, their friendship, and the historical voyage that ultimately drove them apart.In 1831, FitzRoy and Darwin – a Christian Tory and a liberal naturalist – board the HMS Beagle and set sail for Tierra del Fuego. As they travel around the world, exploring the coasts of Patagonia and surveying the Galápagos Islands, the two men forge a lifelong bond while debating morality, nationality, biology, fate, and religion. And as Darwin formulates his theory of evolution, their friendship is fast overshadowed by their differences as Darwin destroys everything FitzRoy stands for.Book three follows Robert FitzRoy and Darwin after the epic voyage in Book 2; events that took place in the years 1840 to 1865.First published in 2005 as This Thing of Darkness, this book is was one of "the best novels of 2006" in the USA.

Genres: Fiction

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 24, 2007

About the author

Harry William Thompson was an English radio and television producer, comedy writer, novelist and biographer. Early in his career Thompson produced the radio comedy programmes The News Quiz and The Mary Whitehouse Experience. Following his move into television, he produced Newman and Baddiel in Pieces, Harry Enfield and Chums and Monkey Dust, and co-produced Never Mind The Buzzcocks. In 1998 he was part of BBC Radio 4's 5-part political satire programme Cartoons, Lampoons, and Buffoons. During these productions he was able to gain exposure for a very large proportion of those who went on to become prominent figures in contemporary British comedy, including: Sacha Baron Cohen, Angus Deayton, Harry Enfield, Ricky Gervais, Nick Hancock, Ian Hislop, Mark Lamarr, Paul Merton and Paul Whitehouse. He was instrumental in the creation of the comic character Ali G for The 11 O'Clock Show, and as a comedy writer his credits included Da Ali G Show.

Thompson wrote biographies of Peter Cook, Richard Ingrams and Tintin creator Hergé. In June 2005, Thompson's only novel, entitled This Thing Of Darkness (a historical novel chronicling the life of Robert Fitzroy - later published in the United States as To The Edge Of The World), was published and long-listed for the Booker prize. He also wrote Penguins Stopped Play, an account of the attempt by his beloved cricket team, The Captain Scott Invitation XI, to tour all seven continents of the world.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This entire story of Robert Fitzroy is such a moving tale. Fitzroy was both a victim to his dogged reliance on the Bible and God as moral and historical compasses and yet was a profound and prescient purveyor of scientific progress with regards to meteorology; a scientific leader in spite of his archaic (even in the mid-1800s)beliefs. The descriptions of life in London, the treatment of native peoples by the British government and even more sadly, the British people are beyond comparing with regards to other works of historical fiction. This is a truly momumental work. The British and its caste system even today has not come to grips with human diversity in the form of people of color. Above all, Fitzroy believed in the value of a person relative to his accomplishments and work ethic, a very novel idea in mid-nineteenth century England. It is easy to see why so many people went to America, not just for religious freedom but for the opportunity that hard work offered them. Even today, true or not, that is the image that draws immigrants to the U.S. This is the finest work of historical fiction I have ever read, and stays true to the facts as closely as any I have read. FIVE STARS!