Not Wanted on the Voyage

Timothy Findley's novel is a magic realist, post-modern re-telling of the biblical Great Flood and the story of Noah's Ark, which is presented as the first time the world ended. The narrative centers on the deeply flawed Noyes family, led by the tyrannical Dr. Noah Noyes, an authoritarian patriarch and 'God's magician' who is obsessively obedient to the destructive will of the aging and irritable Yahweh. The true protagonist is Mrs. Noyes, Noah's indomitable, gin-drinking wife, who battles desperately to save the 'magic and mystery of the old world' from her husband's rigid new order. The extraordinary cast of characters aboard the Ark includes a chorus of singing sheep, the blind cat Mottyl who 'sees all,' and a unicorn destined for a horrible death. The story also features Lucy, a mysterious, seven-foot-tall woman with webbed fingers who is a manifestation of Lucifer and who sides with Mrs. Noyes and the marginalized against Noah.

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