Darwin's Daughter: A novel

Darwin's Daughter is an original novel about a woman who must reconcile her childhood faith with the science that has become integral to her life. Joan Carter's childhood centered around two things: the church in which her father served as deacon and the lizards she adopted for a series of science fair experiments. As Joan matured, however, she discovered these things did not coexist happily. Joan's passage through high school to college, and her emerging sexuality, brings about her loss of faith questioning the existence of God and the ability of science to be humane. As a graduate student, Joan undertakes a voyage to rediscover the wonder of nature, signing on for a cruise to the Galapagos Islands aboard a luxury yacht renamed the Beagle owned by a mysterious entrepreneur. What she finds enables Joan to reconcile her upbringing with her career, and to begin a new phase of life.