In the Shadow of the Ark

Anne Provoost

The story is told from the point of view of a young girl named Re Jana. She, along with her father and mother leave the marshes where they have always lived, to travel to the desert. Re Jana's Dad is a boat builder, he has heard of a man called "The Builder" who is building a huge ship in the middle of the desert. After traveling a long way, they find the ship and are amazed to see the city that has grown up around the building site.

"The Builder" is, of course, Noah and the ship is The Ark. Re Jana is dark of color and all those presently working on the ark are light. The story centers around Re Jana's relationship to Noah's youngest son Ham but it also touches on the lives of all those who were involved in the event of the building of the ark. Noah's family, the builders (many of whom thought Noah was crazy) and Re Jana's family.

I really liked this book. As I said earlier, it was published as a young adult book but I would say that the "young adult" would need to be quite mature. Provoost doesn't candy coat any of the sex (though she is not crude nor real specific) and she includes an intimate relationship between two women. I would give this book 4.5. It was different and well told.