In the 1840s, near the Great Barrier Reef, Thomas Huxley was stranded in the Coral Sea on a ship called the HMS Rattlesnake. At the time he was poor and in the throes of a terrible depression.
But on his return to London, with his wife Henrietta, he would go on to found one of the great intellectual and scientific dynasties of the world. Thomas became a biologist, anthropologist and philosopher who was known as 'Darwin's bulldog' for his robust defence of the theory of evolution.
Thomas' ascent in the world began a new era for the Huxley family. They became a dynasty of scientists, novelists, mystics, film-makers, poets and as well, public lecturers, educators and explainers.
One of their most famous sons was novelist Aldous who wrote Brave New World.
Historian Alison Bashford has interwoven the momentous public achievements of the Huxley family with their private triumphs and tragedies by honing in on the stories of two great biologists: Thomas Huxley and his grandson, Julian.
The questions which fascinated them both were the same: where do humans fit, in the bigger picture of life on earth?
Further information
An Intimate History of Evolution is published by Penguin