In The Preservationist, Dave Maine tells the story of Noe who has been called by God to build a boat and collect two of every animal on earth to be saved from a coming deluge.

The magic comes in subsequent chapters being told from different characters points of view: Noe; his wife; his sons Japheth, Cham, and Sem; and his daughter-in-laws Bera, Ilya, and Mirn. The Preservationist does not deal with matters of faith or historical fact. Instead the author simply, wisely, asks himself what it was like to be there, “when the rain began to fall.” He imagines the world before Abraham, before God became involved in international politics, or, for that matter, in organized religious practice. In details small and large, Maine convinces us that the world Noah worked so hard to save is indeed worth preserving.

Wendy Hoopes