The Evolution of Jane - Softcover

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when a Cathleen Schine heroine goes off in search of her origins, she's likely to travel farther than most--and bound to come up against more than the average obstacle. Jane Barlow Schwartz, for instance, heads not for her New England childhood home but for the consolations of the Galapagos Islands. "You're searching for your roots," her father quips. "On a dormant volcano?" And this is only one of the thousands of witticisms on offer in Cathleen Schine's novel of lost friendship, the perplexing power of the family feud, and more than one shipboard mystery. When Jane, 25 and a brand-new divorcée, arrives in Ecuador for her ecological tour, she instantly recognizes the guide as her relative and childhood best friend. Martha, the cousin in question, however, takes several beats longer--a clear signal that both still have some evolving to do. As Jane quickly reveals, Martha was the real grand passion in her life, and now she's determined to get to the bottom of her idol's disenchantment, not to mention explore the evolutionary value of friendship. Charles Darwin is definitely much in evidence in The Evolution of Jane, and Schine has some serious fun with Jane's confusion when it comes to species survival. But her fifth novel is also filled with some provocative, perfectly timed aperçus on natural, romantic, and most definitely familial selection. --Kerry Fried

"We should rejoice in a rare book like The Evolution of Jane . . . A beautifully descriptive travelogue of the Galapagos . . . wrapped around a rollicking family saga tinged with hints of sexual intrigue." Barbara Kingsolver, New York Times Book Review

"Wonderfully ingenious . . . Very funny, very smart." Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Classy, intelligent fun." People

In some mysterious family feud or unintended slight, Jane Barlow Schwartz lost a friend, her cousin and soul mate Martha. Years later, surrounded by the exotic wildlife of the Galapagos, Jane and Martha meet again. Amid the antics of blue-footed boobies and red-lipped batfish, Jane sets off on a quest through her family history to pinpoint the moment when Martha was no longer the Martha she knew, when the happiest part of her life lapsed into extinction. In the process, she ponders instinct, natural selection, and the oddities of evolution that transform us, examining the origin of species alongside the origins of who we come to be.
"Hilarious." Harper s Bazaar

"Clever . . . Equal parts fascinating science lesson and love story." Mademoiselle

"Crackles with energy, wit and laughter . . . Schine is a great speculator in the commodities of life." Boston Globe

CATHLEEN SCHINE is the author of many novels, most recently The Three Weissmanns of Westport, as well as the international bestseller The Love Letter and Alice in Bed, To the Bird House, She Is Me, and The New Yorkers.

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