Mervin and Alison are a married couple with daughter Camilla. Alison is emotionally abused by Mervin, who is a narcissist. When the marriage ends, she meets Noah, an American research doctor, who treats her well and organises life.
An enjoyable read. ( )

This is the story of a marriage but it is also a clever study of power.

Ali Bobrow, artistic, beautiful and unworldly, is easy prey to controlling men. Her third husband, Noah, is at least a benign dictator. Before him she was mistreated, her daughter was unhappy and she was unable to resist the demands of any manipulative neighbour or acquaintance. Noah, a doctor, the ultimate protector, replaces the chaos with love, calm and security – so long as she follows his rules.

Then one day Ali decides to rebel – and this disrupts the delicate balance of her life with Noah, and leads her to look back at her past in South Africa.

Trapido’s characters are funny and vivid and clever. You feel like you want to climb into her world (though probably not for too long – who could keep up?). She creates atmosphere with economy and style. The opening scene shows Ali sewing in her kitchen, an icon of domesticity. The apparently ordinary items – the fruit bowl, the pinboard – and her thoughts about them immediately evoke the family and her place within it.

There are other types of power here. Ali grew up under apartheid, the descendant of German refugees from World War Two. Her best friend at school was Jewish, and she is attracted to Jewish men. Her unconsummated first love was dark-skinned and was rumoured to have lied about his background to attend the all-white university.

There are also the dynamics between parents and children. Noah’s step-daughter, once so timid, is able to be rebellious and demanding precisely because he has made her feel safe – for now. He is also confronted by the stubbornness of his own daughter.

How do we respond to a world where every day people are harming others? Trapido asks subtle questions about the limits of power, resistance and compassion. ( )

The biggest issue I have with Barbara Trapido's novels is that they always finish long before I'm ready to stop reading them. I would happily live forever in her fictional world and Noah's Ark in particular - a 'Misery' scenario would be very tempting should should I ever meet her. ( )

I found this book a thoroughly enjoyable read, very typical of Trapido: full of quirky intellectual characters, witty dialogue, and a central female protagonist who is not absolutely sure who she is, what she wants, or why. Her efforts to answer these questions make for lots of fun and an ultimately satisfying conclusion. ( )

Enjoyable read about an exploration of a family in transition. A flavour of S Africa is thrown in reminding me of 'Frankie and Stankie'. Ali is the main character. She is rescued from a dysfunctional relationship from her husband by Noah, a research doctor, who takes control by being clear and concise in his decion making. There is a happy ending despite a cruel killing of a much loved kitten. ( )