Everyone knows about Noah's Ark. It is one of the best-loved stories in the Old Testament, and similar stories of a great flood exist in almost all mythologies. Of Noah, himself, however, we know very little, beyond the fact that he had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and was six hundred years old. Nor does the Bible tells us much of what it felt like to be carrying out this epic first act of animal conservation, or what difficulties Noah faced.
In Richard Monte's imaginative retelling of the flood story the characters come to life as never before. Noah and his family are real people with the full range of human emotions. It is hard not to sympathise with Mrs Noah, whose exasperation grows with her workload. It isn't easy feeding and cleaning up after all these wild animals, especially when the captain doesn't do his share of the work.
Noah of course is the leader, which means doing a lot of thinking in his study. He also has to contend with outbreaks of insubordination, vegetarianism, even feminism among his crew - the animals are far less trouble - and by the end of the voyage the remarkable Noah is beginning to feel his age. Besides, even Noah has his doubts and anxieties. What does the future hold?
Beautifully illustrated by Izhar Cohen, ideas about pollution, global warming, animal exploitation and conservation are all discussed in a wonderfully entertaining book in which this most ancient of stories becomes thoroughly and excitingly modern.
