This tale is one of David Garnett's most vivid and most subtle. His two main characters are wholly his own, twin girls who cannot be found in the bible. Everyone else, human and animal, though reinterpreted, belongs to the old story of the Ark. His stormy, half fanatic and half inspired Noah is incredible. But even more impressive is his account of the dark and chaotic time preceding the flood, of the days when the world was water, and his moving descriptions of the re-emergence of land and life. Parable? Fable? Fantasy Yes, but with too many levels of meaning to be dismissed with a cataloguing.