h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Published in 1985 Harry Thompson's first novel, This Thing of Darkness,(www.reviewbooks.co.uk) is a 600 page historical novel about the life of Robert Fitzroy, Captain of The Beagle, and Charles Darwin. It's sure to be a best-seller.
It's an almost incredible achievement and by the time you have finished reading it you will almost believe that you were in Tierra del Fuego, the Falklands, New Zealand, the Galapagos and 19th Century England yourself.
It's a stylishly written page turner crammed with realistic dialogue and sprinkled with interesting and little known historical facts.
The personalities of all the protagonists, from the hero Fitzroy with his brooding dark side to the enthusiastic innocent native Jemmy Button, who stands accused of murder, are extremely well drawn and well researched.
Almost every one of its 600 plus pages contains some insight into how difficult many things were in the time of Charles Darwin and Robert Fitzroy when boys went to sea at the age of 12.
An afterword by the author contains a series of disturbing facts of which the British and other colonial powers cannot be very proud and prefer not to talk about.
The only thing slightly spoiled the flow of the story for me was the dialogue between Charles Darwin and the man who was to become President of Argentina - Juan Manuel de Rosas which attempted to cast de Rosas in the role of a 19th century George W Bush.
I can appreciate why Harry Thompson created this piece of conversational fiction, and in his afterword he almost excuses himself for doing so, but it doesn't detract significantly from the fine writing throughout the rest of what is a splendid, revealing and exciting book.
Highly recommended.

The best book I've read this year.