In a chest of drawers left by his grandmother, author Randal Keynes found the writing case of Charles Darwin's beloved daughter Annie, who died at the age of ten. Within the box, among the typical keepsakes of a Victorian girlhood, were the notes Darwin kept as he cared for Annie through her final illness. For Keynes, a great-great-grandson of Darwin, Annie's writing case became the point of entry into the story of Darwin's family life and its influence on the development of his revolutionary understanding of man's place in nature. Keynes takes us into the family's private world and draws on a wealth of previously unseen material to show Darwin at home and trace his private struggle with his faith. - Jacket flap.