The Flood: A Novel

A wickedly funny and wildly imaginative retelling of one of the most dramatic stories known to mankind

In this brilliant debut novel Noah’s family (or Noe as he’s called here)—his wife, sons and daughters-in-law—tell what it’s like to live with a man touched by God, while struggling against events that cannot be controlled or explained. For when Noe orders his sons to build an ark, he can’t tell them where the wood will come from, just that God will provide. When he sends his daughters-in-law out to gather animals, he can offer no directions, money or protection. Just faith. But once the rain starts, they all come to realise that the harshest 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.

At its core The Flood is about a family caught in the midst of an extraordinary life-changing event, and David Maine infuses this timeless tale with all the tension and humanity—even humour—that it implies.

‘A fabulous book…refreshingly original, very funny, and a perfect blend of Biblical history and wondrous imagination’—The Bookseller

Brilliant...A story of faith and survival (think Life of Pi thousands of years earlier and with a much larger cast of characters). This debut is a winner’—Publishers Weekly

[David Maine] has written an elegant retelling of an ancient narrative, using the Biblical story of the flood to craft a moving meditation on families, faith and how people cope with global catastrophe’—The Guardian

‘This is a fluid and fluent book...pulsing with energy’—The Independent

’Witty and well-paced...unexpectedly moving’—Observer

‘The Flood is funny, tender, intelligent, energetic, irreverent and worshipful’—Ann Patchett, author of Orange Prize Winner Bel Canto