In this imaginative retelling of Noah and the Ark, the unbearable con ditions on the Ark are vividly described by Noah’s daughter, Timna, who helps her brother, Japheth, rescue and hide the young boy, Kittim, and his baby sister. Timna, ready to sacrifice her life to save Kittim, is rescued by her mother, who helps Timna and Kittim escape by raft. In this thought provoking book, readers are asked to think whether the dictatorial actions of Noah and his zealot son, Shem, are justified as Noah’s wife expresses her views and animals and birds ruminate on their dark lives within the hold. 2006 USBBY-CBC Outstanding International Books List, 2004 Costa Children’s Book Award (formerly the Whitbred Award). hc

Originally published by Oxford University Press Great Britain, in 2004.

What was it really like when the heavens opened and the world drowned?

Everyone knows the story of the Flood: The man called on by God to build an ark. The animals that came on board two by two. The rain that fell for forty days and forty nights.

But what about the rest of the story? What about Noah's wife and daughters-in-law? And what if there was a daughter as well? How would it feel to head into the unknown, with only each other and all those animals? What would it be like to turn away friends and neighbors struggling in the water? Could all of it really be part of God's Plan -- the hunger and pain and fear?

Carnegie Medalist Geraldine McCaughrean transforms the familiar story into a provocative new tale that is told through the voices of Noah's family, and even the animals. At the heart is a daughter who questions her father when no one else will.