A fictional history of the world in which stories echo each other as themes deepen and images recur. The author also wrote Metroland for which he won the 1981 Somerset Maughan Award and Flauberts Parrot which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize awas short-listed for the Booker Prize. Offers an unofficial account of Noah`s Ark and his Voyage, which explains about how the human race has subsequently developed.