Confessing a Murder - Hardcover

Drayson, Nicholas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393051293 ISBN 13: 9780393051292

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2002

Synopsis

Abandoned on an island soon to be obliterated by volcanic activity, a condemned man observes local flora and fauna, deteriorates as a human, and recounts his idolatry of friend Charles Darwin and their shared interest in beetles. A first novel. 22,500 first printing.

About this title

About the Author:

Nicholas Drayson, a writer and naturalist, was formerly a curator at the National Museum in Canberra, Australia. This is his first novel.

From Booklist:

Robinson Crusoe meets Charles Darwin in this first novel by a former curator at the National Museum in Canberra, Australia. The fictional narrator, an entomologist and naturalist, is stranded on an island in the South Pacific--with a volcano about to erupt and the flora and fauna even more strange and spectacular than Darwin's own discoveries in the Galapagos. In fact, the narrator is a childhood friend of Darwin's, and they are particularly fond of hunting beetles. Together they also discover the burden of the theory of natural selection. A view of Darwin never before seen, Drayson's book juxtaposes the dark nature of humanity with the exciting discoveries made about nature and the world. As the narrator continues to write his manuscript, which somehow finds its way to an attic in Holland, his strange story unfolds--his relationship with the Darwin family, his exile to Australia, how he came to be abandoned on this nameless, uncharted island, his quest for the golden scarab, and how the "Theory" became a burden that houses a great secret. Michael Spinella
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0393051293
• ISBN 13: 9780393051292
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 280