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''Mr Darwin's Shooter'' is a 1998 novel by Roger McDonald. It describes the life of
Syms Covington Syms Covington (1816–1861) was a fiddler and cabin boy on HMS ''Beagle'' who became an assistant to Charles Darwin and was appointed as his personal servant in 1833, continuing in Darwin's service after the voyage until 1839. Originally named ...
, manservant to
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
during Darwin's voyage aboard HMS ''Beagle''. The book deals with three periods of Covington's life: childhood, adolescence while on , and middle age, where Covington is struggling to deal with the conflict between his religious views and his role in the formulation of the theory of
natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...
. Among the many animals Syms Covington shot and prepared for Charles Darwin were the Galápagos finches, which became crucial for his
theory A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...
.


Notes

* Dedication: To Elinor, Anna and Stella with love and to Susie with your spirit shining.


Publication history

After the novel's initial publication by Random House Australia in 1998 it was republished as follows: * 1998, Anchor, UK * 1998, Atlantic Monthly Press, USA * 1999, Vintage, Australia * 1999, Grove Press, USA * 2009, Vintage, Australia The novel was also translated into Spanish, in 2001 and German in 2002.


Awards and nominations

* 1999 NSW Premier's Literary Awards for Fiction, winner * 1999
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary ...
for Fiction, winner * 2000
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature The South Australian Literary Awards, until 2024 known as the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, comprise a group of biennially-granted literary awards established in 1986 by the Government of South Australia. Formerly announced during A ...
, winner


See also

*
1998 in Australian literature This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1998. Events * Peter Carey (novelist) won the Miles Franklin Award for ''Jack Maggs'' * The NSW Premier's Literary Awards were not present ...


References

1998 Australian novels New South Wales Premier's Prize for Fiction Award-winning works Australian historical novels Novels set in the 19th century Cultural depictions of Charles Darwin {{1990s-hist-novel-stub