Mr. Darwin's Shooter

Mr Darwin's Shooter is a 1998 novel by Roger McDonald.^[1] It describes the life of Syms Covington, manservant to Charles Darwin during Darwin's voyage aboard HMS Beagle.

Mr Darwin's Shooter

First edition
Author	Roger McDonald
Language	English
Genre	Historical fiction
Publisher	Random House Australia
Publication date	1998 (27 years ago) (1998)
Publication place	Australia
Media type	Print
ISBN	978-0-09-183670-2
OCLC	222251494

The book deals with three periods of Covington's life: childhood, adolescence while on HMS Beagle, 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. Among the many animals Syms Covington shot and prepared for Charles Darwin were the Galápagos finches, which became crucial for his theory.

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^[2]
• 1998, Atlantic Monthly Press, USA^[3]
• 1999, Vintage, Australia^[4]
• 1999, Grove Press, USA^[5]
• 2009, Vintage, Australia^[6]

The novel was also translated into Spanish, in 2001 and German in 2002.^[7]

Awards and nominations

• 1999 NSW Premier's Literary Awards for Fiction, winner^[8]
• 1999 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards for Fiction, winner^[9]
• 2000 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, winner^[10]

See also

• 1998 in Australian literature