Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith

Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith is a historical biography for young adults by Deborah Heiligman. First published in 2008, the book explores Charles Darwin’s personal life, and how his relationship with his religious wife affected his work. The book won the 2010 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, and it received various other prestigious nominations. Heiligman is the bestselling author of numerous middle grade and young adult books. She also writes nonfiction for younger people of all ages. Before writing fiction full-time, Heiligman worked for Scholastic and various magazines.

In the book, Heiligman explores what happens after Charles returns home from his adventures. He’s recently completed his masterpiece, The Origin of Species, and he’s sailed around the world. Although he loves exploring and learning new things about our planet, Charles is ready to take things slow for a while. Specifically, he wonders if he should get married.

Most books about Charles Darwin center around his writing and his discoveries. However, Heiligman’s book exposes the real Charles and who he was as a person. Although Heiligman touches on Charles’s life work and his many accomplishments, she’s more interested in his personal life and the family he built for himself. The book is useful to students looking for more information about Charles Darwin.



When Charles returns home in his late 20s, he ponders the pros and cons of married life. He wants a wife he can love and trust, but she must also support his work. Charles is a dedicated naturalist, and he doesn’t plan on retiring any time soon. Although he wants a family and companionship, he wants it on his own terms. He doesn’t want too many children, either, because they cost too much money to care for.

Charles marries Emma Wedgwood in 1839. She’s his first cousin and they’ve grown up together. She’s also a devout Christian woman who believes in God over science. Charles spends many hours talking to Emma about their different beliefs before they marry. He wants Emma to understand his concerns about God and how they affect his worldview. He doesn’t believe in the afterlife, or God, and he relies on facts. Charles can prove the world exists, and until he proves God exists, he won’t believe in Him.

Emma tolerates Charles’s unusual worldview. She loves him, and she enjoys bantering with someone who challenges her beliefs. This suits Charles, because he can run his scientific theories by Emma and get her feedback. She promises to be honest with him, and she criticizes his work from a Christian perspective. This rounded perspective helps Charles revise his arguments and write more convincing, and sensitive, theories.



When Charles marries Emma, children soon follow. Although Charles didn’t want many children, he fathers 10. Many of them die in infancy, which leaves Charles distraught. He never expected to love his children so deeply, and he’s surprised by the depths of his own feelings. Through it all, Emma’s a constant companion who he loves more than anything. She’s Charles’s soulmate, and she makes Charles wonder if he’s blessed after all.

Although Charles believes wholeheartedly in natural selection, he’s scared to publish his work. Emma encourages him to publish his theories, but she warns him against the likely backlash. Charles doesn’t believe that a divine being created natural variations within a species, and he doesn’t believe that a god planned for every eventuality. He believes that animals and plants adapt to their environment, and the “fittest” species survive. Charles may not believe in God, but he doesn’t want to offend anyone else’s beliefs, either. With Emma’s help, Charles eventually overcomes his doubts.

Heiligman shows that Charles marrying Emma is about more than simply a man marrying a woman. It’s about science marrying religion. Emma spends her married life fretting over Charles’s soul and praying that God shows him mercy. Charles spends his married life wondering how Emma can be so devoted to something she can’t prove exists. Although they never resolve their differences, they learn how to believe in each other, which symbolizes science and religion coexisting.



Emma admits to Charles that she worries about the afterlife. She’s scared of dying because she thinks she’ll go to Heaven, but Charles will go to Hell or Purgatory. She’s worried that she won’t see him again once she’s gone. Charles, on the other hand, believes that if a loving God did exist, he’d make sure they stayed together. He never belittles or criticizes Emma’s fears—instead, he confronts them and offers reassurance. He treats his wife like an equal, which can’t be said for many men in the Victorian era.

Charles and Emma Darwin prove that it’s possible to love and respect someone who holds different beliefs. It’s never okay to be disrespectful towards someone else simply because they think differently. Charles and Emma hold completely opposite views on a crucial matter, and yet they work together and love each other. Although Charles is best known for The Origin of Species and the “survival of the fittest” ideology, he should also be known as a man who proved science and religion go together.