Darwin Jihen

In The Darwin Incident, the Animal Liberation Alliance raids an animal testing laboratory in an attempt to rescue a pregnant chimpanzee, but the operation leads to an even stranger result: the animal gives birth to Charlie, a half-human, half-chimpanzee "humanzee." From the start, Charlie exists between two worlds, bound to the human family that raises him while also carrying the burden of his extraordinary origin. Fifteen years later, his human foster parents decide he is ready to enter ordinary life and send him to a normal high school. There, Charlie meets Lucy, his first human friend, and begins to experience a fragile version of the everyday life he has never truly known. That hope does not last long. As the ALA grows more radical, the organization returns with plans to draw Charlie into its terrorist scheme, turning his existence into the center of a dangerous conflict. Caught between those who want to protect him and those who want to use him, Charlie must confront the forces gathering around him and decide what kind of future is possible for someone who belongs to neither side completely.