Fictionalized autobiography must walk a narrow line between truth and story. Where facts are unavailable or intentionally omitted, the fictionalized version needs to bring narrative flow, pacing and character building to fill the gap. This well-meaning tale of Charles Darwin’s youth fails at the task of replacing veracity with an entertaining chronicle. Charley’s story begins in earnest when the boy is eight years old and is shipped off to school for the first time. The first-person account follows Charley through his lackluster schooldays, his indifferent training as a classicist and his failure as a medical student, culminating in the epic journey of the Beagle, which introduced the young naturalist to the Galápagos finches around which he would base the theory of natural selection. Charley’s account is scattered, with events tied together absent rhyme or reason. Lacking scientific details which could interest budding naturalists, character development as spice for those interested in Darwin’s romances or scientific epiphanies for young historians, Charley’s “memoir” will please few. (Historical fiction. 11-13)
