DNF because of unexpected content, but rating the book based on my enjoyment of it up until this point out of respect to the author and NetGalley.

Incredibly well written and I was really invested in the story until a woman who had already had her baby taken away from her was forced into prostitution by a pimp pretending to be a Good Samaritan. Then *trigger warning* she had to listen to a story about a mother and son torturing each other by lopping off each other’s digit appendages. As a mother and trauma survivor it was incredibly hard to read. If we weren’t going through some traumatic events in our life right now I probably would have finished it, but as of right now my heart can’t handle anything this distressing.

Otherwise I was really enjoying it, and maybe at a more peaceful time in our lives will pull it out from the library.

The language style was very well done for the era.

My apologies. I simply couldn't finish this book. I'd been expecting more cerebral , that wrestled with nuance's of Darwin's theory. Unfortunately, there was too much violence for me to be able to finish it.