The Preservationist: A Novel

Noe says -I must build a boat.-A boat she says.-A ship more like. Ill need the boys to help he adds as an afterthought.-Were leagues from the sea she says or any river big enough to warrant a boat.This conversation is making Noe impatient. -Ive no need to explain myself to you.-And when youre done she says carefully well be taking this ship to the sea somehow?As usual Noes impatience fades quickly. -Well not be going to the sea. The sea will be coming to us.. In this brilliant debut novel Noahs family (or Noe as hes called here)-his wife sons and daughters-in-law-tell what its like to live with a man touched by God while struggling against events that cannot be controlled or explained. When Noe orders his sons to build an ark he cant tell them where the wood will come from. When he sends his daughters-in-law out to gather animals he can offer no directions money or protection. And once the rain starts they all realize that the true test of their faith is just beginning. Because the family is trapped on the ark with thousands of animals-with no experience feeding or caring for them and no idea of when the waters will recede. What emerges is a family caught in the midst of an extraordinary Biblical event with all the tension humanity-even humor-that implies.