Charles and Emma

Starred review from December 15, 2008
This rewarding biography of Charles Darwin investigates his marriage to his cousin Emma Wedgwood. Heiligman (the Holidays Around the World series) has good reason for this unusual approach: as deeply as they loved each other, Emma believed in God, and Charles believed in reason. Embracing the paradoxes in her subjects' personalities, the author unfolds a sympathetic and illuminating account, bolstered by quotations from their personal writings as well as significant research into the historical context. We meet Charles as he weighs the pros and cons of wedded life—but then seeks his father's advice (Darwin père urges him to conceal his religious doubts); Emma becomes a more fervent believer after the death of her favorite (and more religious) sister. Heiligman writes for motivated readers, and her style can be discursive (mention of a letter can introduce a few sentences on the British postal system). Her book allows readers not only to understand Darwin's ideas, but to appreciate how Emma's responses tempered them. Eight pages of photos, not seen by PW.
Ages 12–up.

Starred review from January 1, 2009
Gr 8 Up-Beginning with Darwin's notorious chart listing reasons to wed and not to wed, Heiligman has created a unique, flowing, and meticulously researched picture of the controversial scientist and the effect of his marriage on his life and work. Using the couple's letters, diaries, and notebooks as well as documents and memoirs of their relatives, friends, and critics, the author lets her subjects speak for themselves while rounding out the story of their relationship with information about their time and place. She shows how Darwin's love for his intelligent, steadfast, and deeply religious cousin was an important factor in his scientific workpushing him to document his theory of natural selection for decades before publishing it with great trepidation. Just as the pair embodied a marriage of science and religion, this book weaves together the chronicle of the development of a major scientific theory with a story of true love. Published for young adults, this title will be equally interesting to adults drawn to revisit Darwin on his 200th birthday."Ellen Heath, Easton Area Public Library, Easton, PA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 20, 2009
To marry or not to marry? This biography starts with Charles Darwin making a list of domestic pros and cons. Despite his reservations, he decided that marriage and family life were worth the risk, and so he married Emma Wedgwood, not knowing that her religious nature would call his science into question. Why It Is for Us: The Darwins' fascinating marriage of faith and reason is a very grown-up love story. Emma prays for her husband, deeply in love and yet convinced that he is putting his eternal soul at risk. For his part, Darwin finds that the bonds of matrimony he once feared would confine him instead inform his work in ways he could not have expected.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2009
Grades 8-12 *Starred Review* When the book opens, Charles Darwin is trying to make a decision, andhe is doing so intime-honored fashion: drawing a line down a piece of paper and putting the pros of marriageon one side and the cons on the other. As much as Darwin is interested in wedded life, he is afraid that family lifewill take him away from the revolutionary work he is doing on the evolution of species. However, the pluses triumph, andhe finds the perfectmate in his first-cousin Emma, who becomes his comforter, editor, mother of his 10 childrenand sparring partner. Although highly congenial, Charles and Emma were on opposite sides when it came to the role of God in creation. Heiligmanusesthe Darwin family letters and papers to crafta full-bodied look atthe personal influences that shaped Charles life as he worked mightily to shape his theories. This intersection between religion and science is where the book shines, but it is also an excellent portrait of what life was like during the Victorian era, a time when illness and death were ever present, and, in a way, a real-time example of the survival of the fittest. Occasionally hard to follow, in part because ofthe many characters (the family tree helps), this is well sourced and mostly fascinating, and may attract a wider audience than those interested in science. Austen fans will find a romance to like here, too. To be illustrated with photographs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)