To the Edge of the World - Book 1

Available 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 one of the trilogy follows Robert FitzRoy and his ship, the Beagle, on its surveying expeditions to the southern tip of South America. It introduces the 'soon to be famous' passenger, Charles Darwin.
First published in 2005 in the UK as This Thing of Darkness, this book is was one of "the best novels of 2006" in the USA.

“Perhaps the best historical novel I have read…A stunning achievement of imagination and story-telling. In this novel 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. A masterpiece.”
- Bernard Cornwell, author of The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, and the Richard Sharpe series

“If you like seafaring adventure, then you’ll want to travel the world in the almost 800 pages of To the Edge of the World…will fit well on the shelves of anyone who owns books by Patrick O’Brian…a thinking person’s adventure.”
– Record-Courier