The late 1870s, the Kentish village of Downe. The villagers gather in church one rainy Sunday. Only Thomas Davies stays away. The eccentric loner, a grief-stricken widower, works as a gardener for the notorious naturalist, Charles Darwin. He shuns religion. But now Thomas needs answers. What should he believe in? And why should he continue to live?
A postmodern novel about faith, knowledge and our inner needs, set in the late 1870s in the Kentish village of Downe - Charles Darwin's home. Translated from the Finnish by Emily and Fleur Jeremiah. 'It's nice, for a change, to see Nordic Literature other than detective novels being published into English... So another round of applause for Peirene' Nicholas Lezard, "Guardian"