Ark Baby

'There will be two world wars,' murmurs the Laudanum Empress, yawning over her untouched cup and saucer. It is the heyday of her psychic particles. 'As a result, a million skulls will be strewn all over France.' She pauses, squinting sideways. 'But on the more positive side, there will be something known as long-life milk.'

A darkly comic satire about Darwinism, heredity and religious belief, and featuring parsons, freaks, laudanum addicts, ghosts, taxidermists, vets, obsessive cooks, and an ark full of zoological samples. The story is set in two time periods: the early to mid-Victorian era and a modern-day Britain that was struck by 100% female infertility at the millennium.

A wonderful book - and there is another of the author's books show more among my TBRs. I must move "The Ninth Life of Louis Drax" up nearer to the top of the heap. show less

An interesting novel about the boundaries between humans and primates. It has some interesting passages but is hampered by an awkward structure that has parallel stories which converge towards towards the end.

It has some very funny parts. It has some very good insights. It is a bit too far-fetched. The reader clues in to the "mystery" that drives the story long before the story gets you there.

I wanted to like this story so much more than I actually did. I guess when one gets into religious extremism and couples this with a big dose of extreme evolution, then toss in a bit of the supernatural, you get Ark Baby. Oh, and don't forget the "British" humor speckled throughout. All in all, it should be a very good read; I just didn't find any of the characters approachable, enjoyable or easy to relate to.